


Fighter

by Habanero00



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Gang World, Angst, Arson, Attempted Kidnapping, Betrayal, Bittersweet Ending, Blood and Violence, Bottom Nakamoto Yuta, Corruption, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Gangs War, Hate to Love, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Investigator Lee Taeyong, Lee Taeyong is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Mafia NCT, Minor Character Death, Murder, Past Sexual Abuse, Police, Prostitute Nakamoto Yuta, Prostitution, Self-Hatred, Slow To Update, Strangers to Lovers, Suicide, Tattoos, Top Lee Taeyong, Triada, Yakuza, YuMark and LuYu friends with benefits, Yuta is that bitch, yutae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:34:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24340648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Habanero00/pseuds/Habanero00
Summary: Taeyong arrives in corrupt Hong Kong to investigate the case of kidnappings and murders of prostitutes. There he meets Yuta - a young male prostitute who is the only one who comes out of the attempted abduction.
Relationships: Lee Taeyong & Nakamoto Yuta, Lee Taeyong/Nakamoto Yuta, minor Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas - Relationship
Comments: 52
Kudos: 174





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> At the beginning I just want to explain a small detail. Yuta is 19 years old here. According to the law in the country I live in, he is of legal age. So I will not use the warning about "underage". If you feel uncomfortable with this information, I advise you to give up because I'm not gonna change anything.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "See you in hell."

*****

Lee Taeyong remembered the world just before the war. Lying on the cold floor in a cramped cage, he was staring at the ceiling, thinking about the old days when Asia was still at peace. He remembered his parents, beloved sister, and the day of his graduation from the police academy. He liked to go back to memories where everything was normal. If it wasn't for the war, he would probably be a respected policeman fighting criminals instead of serving his sentence.

Unfortunately, his ambitious plans couldn't be fulfilled. Three years before his arrest, a gang war broke out in Asia. The main parties to the conflicts were China and Japan, which after taking over power in their countries began to call themselves the Triad and Yakuza. The Triad first began to conquer smaller countries that didn't cause her much resistance. This is how Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia lost its sovereignty. Yakuza, not wanting to lose, began to conquer smaller island states together with Oceania, although their greatest achievement was definitely India.

The beginnings were difficult because most countries quickly surrendered to gangs that had their representatives at the highest levels of the state. Taeyong hoped that Korea wouldn't give up so easily. The country wasn't associated with any of the gangs, but because of that, it started drawing attention to itself. A few weeks after Lee managed to get a job, his sister was attacked by gangsters on the way home. They brutally raped her and beat her to death. Upon learning this, Taeyong took a baseball bat from home and murdered two of his sister's three torturers, the third one seriously mutilating. Taeyong was a sensible young man and immediately after the crime, he went to the police to confess. He knew he would minimize his family's suffering and fear if he pleaded guilty than if they had to hide him.

So on his twenty-fourth birthday Lee Taeyong, who had the predisposition to be an outstanding policeman, was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Such a low punishment met him only because he confessed to the crime himself, he was not previously punished and acted under the influence of emotions. And because he got rid of the nuisance Triad members, but no one could officially say it in the courtroom. Taeyong didn't care. After losing his sister, he lost hope and faith in everything that had been of value to him before. He crossed the prison gates with an indifferent face as if he wasn't afraid of what would happen to him there.

It wasn't easy, but Lee never thought it would be. He found himself in a small, dirty, cramped cage with three other inmates who were older and stronger than him. He would probably end up as their toy or punching bag, but years of schooling in the police academy allowed him to defend himself with every attack. He didn't always win, but he never refused to duel and didn't bow his head even to the prison mafia. As a result, he gained a high position in the prison hierarchy. Moreover, he was respected and didn't have to worry about a good night's sleep anymore.

At the beginning of his stay, his parents often visited him, but Taeyong asked them to break contact after the first year. It was a hard moment because Lee could be hard outside, but a part of his dead heart still loved them. However, entering the circle of the mafia, meeting more and more dangerous people, the man didn't want anything bad to happen to his last loved ones. He swore that he would try to protect them, but he couldn't risk being tied with them. Taeyong's father understood this quickly and decided to trust his son. It was worse with his mother. She left the prison with a tear-stained face, and this sight broke the rest of tenderness in the young man's heart.

Two years later, Lee Taeyong was leaving the prison, greeted by his new friends on the other side, with applause. He left the walls of the prison, like a king, dressed in an expensive suit, which his people brought him. While serving, Lee met many interesting men, and thanks to these connections it was easier for him to settle matters outside the prison. At twenty-seven, Taeyong had a lot of money on his account, not working a single hour. Every prisoner knew his name and prayed to avoid falling out of favor with him. Power, money, and authority have changed a man who once was positive about life. Taeyong left the past long ago, deciding to focus on the present.

A black Bentley stopped in front of the gate and the people around him signaled that Lee should get in. Combing the previously done hair, the man walked forward and got into the car when the door was opened. A moment later the car drove away, and the former policeman turned sideways, greeting his new boss with a nod. Jung Jaehyun was one of the local leaders of the gang that was beginning to be born in Korea. At the moment, he was still too weak to leave the underground and oppose Yakuza and the Triad, but he was slowly gaining importance by recruiting more and more powerful members, such as Taeyong.

"Good to see you. Did they treat you well?" Jung sneered, but Lee being used to his games didn't react.

"Cut to it, Boss. " Taeyong replied, staring at the city outside the window, which was nothing like the one he remembered from before stretch.

"The Triad conquered us. They have seventy percent of Korea, so we can't wait any longer. Yakuza is purging people who don't want to fight on their side. The time has come for action." Jung became serious immediately, and Taeyong focused his eyes on his piercing gaze.

"What do you want me to do?" Lee asked, knowing that it was time to pay back the debt, which was connections he had and the money he gained through them.

"We're going to the airport now. All your documents and necessary things are already in place in Triad. There's nothing here for you, you useless cop, but in Hong Kong, they need someone to look at the mysterious murders of male whores. You will pretend that you want to find a culprit, and you will be our ears and eyes. From the heart of the enemy." Jaehyun smirked and Taeyong didn't like the idea anymore.

"I understand that I have nothing to say on this matter. Bombs away. " The man sighed. Just thinking about it, his head started to ache.

"Exactly. I hope you won't let us down." Jung handed him a wallet filled with false documents and foreign currency banknotes.

"See you in hell." The Korean joked, leaving the car and slamming the door behind him when they arrived.

******

Hong Kong has always been a loathful place in Yuta's eyes. He often equaled the city to the hatchery of rats. The city center, in which he rarely visited, was crowded with crowds of stupid people hurrying everywhere. Besides, almost always the city was wrapped in a layer of smog, taking away the possibility of free breathing. He had the misfortune that he lived or existed because he couldn't call it life, on the outskirts, where slums arose. It was here where human trafficking and drug dealing developed, robberies and shootings took place almost every day, and half of the population worked in the prostitution business. He also belonged to her.

Recently, however, this work has become increasingly dangerous as street prostitutes have been kidnapped and brutally murdered. Three boys have already disappeared from the brothel in which he worked, and their bodies were later found dead in the woods. This should frighten the boy away and distract him from his work, but Yuta didn't fool himself. Somehow he had to earn money, and on the other hand, he tried to commit suicide so many times that death was indifferent to him.

Yuta came here as the only survivor of the slaughter in Osaka. He was sixteen when Yakuza launched a plan to get rid of anyone who opposed her and didn' want to fight on their side. Osaka residents were one of the few who started a revolt but were annihilated by almost three times the number of gangsters. The boy's parents were killed outright, but earlier they managed to get a ticket for him for the ship that was to leave the city.

The boy came to the Triad by accident, not wanting to be there after what he survived. People like him were called 'fugitives'. They didn't have rights, citizenship, and weren't treated as people. When a fugitive was got by the mafia, they either killed him, fearing that he might be a spy, or sent him to the country from where he fled, to be judged there and killed for treason. So the only option of life for them was to running away, hiding, and working in such a way that no one who had the power could get them caught up.

Yuta didn't like to go back to the memories when he arrived at the Triad. He was left at the mercy of others without a penny and a place to sleep. With his pretty face, which he cursed, he caught the attention of the district pimp and quickly fell into the trap of the world of prostitution. His first client left a quadruple payment in his brothel per night with a virgin. The brothel-keeper personally thanked him for that, making him his best prostitute. Never again since that night did the Japanese look at his reflection in the mirror. Yuta felt the pain, fear, and humiliation of that day every day, even though now it was normal for him to have three or even four clients per day.

He abhorred his job. He loathed himself and the place where he lived, but this was the world now and he knew that he wasn't the only suffering. For the money he earned, he rented a small room at the end of the district above the piercing store where he was a regular customer. His favorite dealer was sometimes giving him dinner or a dose of morphine for a quickie. When the night was extremely successful, the boy could enjoy not only the next dose of the drug and even buy something to eat or wear.

His life was pathetic and disgusting. Yuta felt obnoxious and tried to kill himself four times, but to no avail. Unfortunately, it caused a sensation among the most bizarre clients who could cum seeing him choking while clenching their hands around his neck. The first weeks were the worst for him. After each meeting, the boy vomited and cried, until he finally got into a state of apathy and he felt nothing. He could lay motionless like a porcelain doll and let these degenerates do what they wanted. After learning about the morphine that dulled his mind, the world became more colorful. Gray turned into black and white, and Yuta didn't feel pain or have to hear what his clients were saying.

As every evening, also today the boy appeared in a brothel to go to his room and change into the outfit chosen for him by the pimp. He tied his brown hair with shiny bobby pins on one side of his head. His ears were decorated with hanging gold earrings and a black choker hung on his thin neck. Applying golden eye shadows and pink lip gloss to his lips, Yuta got up from the chair and went to the hanger to remove tight leather shorts and a red crop top. Pulling him over his head, the boy frowned in disgust at seeing how much it reveals his body. From afar, one could notice his very slim belly and the golden piercing hanging in the middle of his navel.

"Start eating more, or nobody will buy you. People don't like bones. " The boy's pimp who was standing in the doorway growled. He was a well-built, tall man with blond hair, dark eyes, and a nasty scar in the middle of his face. Yuta hated him with all his heart for finding him that night and destroying his life.

"You call them people? Don't be ridiculous. They are a bunch of dogs, so they'll hit on everything." Yuta scoffed and immediately regretted it when Xiao tightened his massive arm around his neck.

"You're lucky you are the boss's favorite because I would fuck you and kill you. And now to the street, bitch! Use your lips in a more useful way." The man snorted, releasing the boy who staggered backward.

Yuta barely managed to put on his high black shoes when Xiao grabbed his arm and led him out of the building. Then he drove him to the highway and forbade him to return until he served at least four people. Yuta stumbled forward, tripping over his legs, and had it not been for the railing on the bridge, he would have fallen into puddles. He barely had time to straighten up, and he felt his backache after yesterday night. The boy came across an extremely cruel client who almost killed him, but Xiao threw him out of the room when the man refused to release Yuta.

Adjusting his tight pants, the boy straightened up and waved a hand at every passing car. It took some time than someone finally stopped, but it worked on the fifth time. Yuta, not looking at the surroundings, opened the door and went in, but immediately regretted when something hit him hard on the back of the head. The only thing he could remember before he lost consciousness was a high-pitched laugh, and then everything turned black.

*******

Taeyong was leaving the hellacious police station, where he had to work, after having quarreled with his supervisor Taeil about a matter he was in no hurry to deal with. It's not like Lee wasn't sensitive to the matter of killing poor sluts, but he came here for another purpose. However, unable to avoid the problem all the time, because it could arouse suspicion, Lee decided to go to the last crime scene, concluding from previous documents that the murderer usually repeats the place of leaving the corpse twice.

What he didn't expect was finding another body. Without more ado, Taeyong ran down the hill towards the small pool by which the young man's half-naked body was laying. Something didn't seem right to the officer when he noticed that the boy was breathing. Very slow and unstable but he was still alive. He approached him carefully and after checking the pulse he was sure that the victim wasn't dead. He immediately called his friend, who was a doctor, to come to his house with equipment so that they could examine the boy. One more time he took a look at the body. Except for bruises, scratches, and torn clothes, he noticed scrapes on his arms and bare feet.

Lee sensed that the boy had somehow managed to escape and decided to do everything to know the way he did it. Grabbing the boy under his arms and knees, Taeyong carried him to the car and started toward his apartment. Johnny was waiting for him there and took over the victim by carefully placing him on a flat couch. The officer, knowing that he must trust his friend, loosened his tie and headed for the kitchen to wash the boy's blood off his hands and drink something stronger. When the doctor was ready after an hour, they both sat in the living room opposite the poorly breathing victim.

"Tell me everything you learned. " Taeyong spoke, offering a friend a whiskey.

"Not older than twenty years. Attenuate body, addicted to something, a male prostitute. Fugitive, I assume from Yakuza. Numerous bruises, but also those that have arisen over the past few days, plus or minus. Occipital edema. Head slit near the temporal bone. I assume he hit something or was hit. Oddly enough, I don't think he was raped. After the cuts on his feet and arms, it can be said that he ran through the forest." Johnny replied without taking his eyes off the younger man.

"I thought about it too. So we have someone who might know the criminal. " Lee got up from the chair to take a closer look at the boy. Now that he was lying on the couch, he seemed much smaller and innocent. His brown, curly hair clung to his hollow cheeks and dressed in loose clothes he looked very young.

"He is also incredibly beautiful." Suh smiled broadly.

"Don't even start, Johnny." Lee gave him a warning look, causing the other to raise his arms defensively.

"Should I find out who it is?" Johnny asked.

"How old is he. Name and surname. Where he works, lives, visits. Where did he come from here? Everything you can find." Taeyong counted, emptying a glass of alcohol.

"As you wish." Johnny laughed and left the apartment after saying goodbye to the Korean.

Lee looked at the sleeping figure of the boy for a moment, until he went to his room to take a hot shower and go to sleep. In the morning, when he went to the living room, no one was there anymore. After the boy's presence, there was only one trace left in, the form of blankets folded into a pile. Taeyong predicted that this would happen, but he wasn't going to look for the victim until he got the information he needed. While drinking his morning coffee, he headed into the bathroom to prepare himself for pretending he was an exemplary Hong Kong police officer yet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have long thought of writing something about the mafia and crime. I don't have much experience in these subjects, but I want to give it a try. If you want to give it a chance, I invite you to read, but please don't have high expectations because I don't want to disappoint you! ☺ This is the first introductory chapter. I think they will not appear too often, because I would prefer to write them longer and it takes more time. The next one I plan to add in three weeks because now I am starting the school-leaving exam and I may not find enough time to write something good 💚


	2. Decoy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Whores are not people. No one cares about us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter for you guys (￢‿￢ )  
> Have fun!

The rays of the sun that broke through the windows in Taeyong's bedroom woke him from a short sleep. The man didn't expect to have a good sleep, because he was dealing with the urgent matter until late, but he hoped that five in the morning won't be the time when he would have to get out of bed. Cursing his stupidity under his breath that made him not lower the blinds, Lee got up with a sour expression and headed for the bathroom with his eyes still being closed. After a cold shower and shaving, Taeyong chose one of many perfectly ironed suits and then decided to prepare breakfast. This time he didn't waste time and quickly fried a simple scrambled egg with bacon and made a cup of black coffee. While eating, he reviewed letters and telegrams from Korea and the files Taeil had told him to read.

Lee didn't have much work today. Before going to the police station, he decided to check the crime scene and the places of earlier kidnappings again. Taeyong, mainly hanging around purposelessly, arrived at work after 1 pm, receiving a hostile look from his supervisor for not appearing earlier. Reluctantly, Lee sat down at his desk and set to work dealing with annoying and stupid cases, in his opinion. Unable to bear the boredom and unnecessary paperwork with which he had to bother at the station, the Korean decided to take a break and go out to a nearby cafe. While waiting for the order, the man used a telephone booth nearby and contacted Johnny, who invited him to collect the information he had obtained for him.

Returning to work with a wonderfully fragrant Americano, Lee apologized to Taeil, leaving him his papers and took the company car to go to Johnny. He arrived before 7 pm, parking near his friend's villa. Although the doctor worked mainly outside the city center, he lived in one of the wealthier districts, because the money he earned from illegal drug sales allowed him to do so. Taeyong took a last sip of coffee before leaving the car and, putting on his tinted glasses, walked through the iron gate to the dark front door. As usual, he didn't have to worry about Johnny not hearing the doorbell because his friend left them open, causing Lee to easily get inside.

Taeyong paused in the vestibule for a moment to look at the new painting which Suh brought from Italy. Snorting under the breath at the doctor's waste of money, Lee started up the carpeted stairs to the upper floor. The closer the man's bedroom was, the louder the groans and moans came to his ears. The policeman, however, worked with Suh long enough that they didn't confuse him or embarrass him. He was used to them as soon as they met. Johnny never hid from him that he had a weakness for beautiful people with whom he was always ready to spend a pleasant time. Lee didn't enter the bedroom, deducing from the sounds that the couple had not finished yet, but knocked on the door three times to signal the man that he had already arrived. Then he went to the end of the corridor and, entering Johnny's office, took a seat in one of the leather armchairs.

Ten minutes later, Johnny joined him in a loose, unbuttoned shirt, and messy hair, sticking out in all directions. The friends gave each other suggestive glances and then said hello, shaking hands. Suh didn't waste his valuable time and immediately handed the policeman a thin briefcase with the information he obtained. While Taeyong was busy reading the papers, Johnny went out to the balcony to light a cigarette and look at the prostitute with whom he had spent blissful moments not so long ago.

"You haven't been idle, John. Great work as usual." Taeyong slammed the briefcase shut and pulled a brown envelope with a bundle of banknotes from his jacket's pocket.

"At your service." The doctor winked at his friend, counting the bills. "Double rate? He was beautiful but was that kid worth that much?" Suh joked, intrigued by the amount of cash he received for a simple order.

"Don't be funny. The other half is the down payment. The boss will send you a telegram tomorrow morning." Taeyong snorted dismissively, then got up and prepared to leave.

"Then expect me to visit you tomorrow. Don't forget to put the whiskey in the fridge." Johnny put out his cigarette and began to lazily button his shirt.

Leaving the doctor's villa, Lee reached into his pants pocket for his last cigarette and lit it before entering the car. He was pleased with the information obtained. They presented everything he wanted and needed to know. As usual, Johnny did his job fantastic and Taeyong was glad that it was with him that he cooperated in the Triad. When he ended smoking, he stomped with his shoe on the cigarette and got into the car, leaving the center of Hong Kong. Before going to the brothel, the man stopped at a telephone booth, where he called Mr. Jung. He told the boss the information he had gained and the discoveries he had made in recent days.

"You're saying that these fuckers are arming?" Jung sneered and Lee heard talks in the background.

"That's right. All of the wholesalers I checked record an increase in the purchase of ammunition. Almost one in two lacks basic firearms or melee weapons." Taeyong reported the latest analysis.

"Good job, Lee. This is important news. Notify me of everything you learn. Over and out." Said Jung, hanging up.

On the way back, he ran into the police station for a moment, lying to his supervisor that he had to check something urgent because someone had reported being a witness to the kidnapping. That wasn't true, but Lee didn't feel like spending the rest of the night here, so with Taeil's permission he left the place at 8 pm. He stopped at home to change his clothes for a more comfortable and less formal one, then went to the brothel in the hope of talking to the would-be kidnap victim.

It wasn't an easy task, because at the very entrance Taeyong had a problem convincing the security guard that he came here as a client, not as an investigating officer. When he managed to get inside, he was overwhelmed by the smell of sweaty bodies and smoke from burning opium. Clogging his nose so as not to be deceived, the man followed the employee to the desk, which was located in the very corner of the vestibule. The bald man behind the desk gave him an annoyed look when he asked about Yuta. The employee tried to get rid of Taeyong as much as he could, repeating over and over again that the boy is already hired for the whole night and will not find time for him, unless in the morning if he still has strength.

Taeyong finally decided to pretend to give up and when he turned to go back where he came from, he quickly turned into a side corridor where the private rooms of prostitutes were located. He was immediately followed by two bodyguards who were easily knocked down by a trained policeman. Looking for the right door, Lee found a suitable room at the end of the corridor with the name YUTA scratched on the door. Without wasting time, Lee went in, wrinkling his nose at the smell of intense opium. In the center of the small room stood a large bed, on which sat an obese man with a cloudy look in his eyes. Even from afar, Taeyong could tell he was already heavily wrecked. A small boy was kneeling in front of him, wearing skimpy thongs and chain with a thick collar, who tried his best to satisfy his client orally.

Lee came up to him and pulled the boy aside, causing him to stagger and fall on his back. Then he jerked the fat man's arm and threw him out the door, staying alone with the young man. Looking closely at him, Taeyong saw a distinct red mark on the boy's neck from the collar that had been put on him. The boy wasn't even hard, but he was lying on the dirty and cold floor like a rag doll, without contact with the world. He didn't hear any words from Taeyong, so the resigned man decided to let go and try to talk to him another time. Effortlessly, because the boy was skinny and weighed as much as a feather, Taeyong lifted the fragile body off the floor and placed it on the intact side of the bed, covering him with a scrap of bedding, and then left the room.

"How many customers does this kid have?" He asked when he reached the desk with the bald man again.

"Three." That one answered briefly.

"How much money do you want to not let anyone go to Yuta's room tonight?" Lee gave him a provocative look.

"Are you fucking crazy, dude!?" The baldhead got up from the chair, not believing what he hears.

"The amount." Taeyong kept his eyes intense.

"6500 HKD." The man snorted derisively but closed his mouth as Taeyong pulled his wallet from his jacket and threw seven banknotes worth a thousand dollars each on the desk.

"If I check that you didn't keep your contract, you'll be dead." Lee raised his eyebrows provocatively, then turned on his heel and left the brothel, leaving behind the shocked pimp.

The next day, not being in humor to come to work, Taeyong spent half a day in his own room analyzing the information he had gathered. Several of his colleagues provided him with new photos of suspected people, and Lee decided to take a closer look to see what role they play in the mafia and what they do. It wasn't until the afternoon approached that the man left home to go to a cheap restaurant and eat something nutritious. During the meal, which consisted of pork in sweet and sour sauce, Lee discussed on the phone with Johnny, who found where Yuta lived. Having a free evening, Taeyong got into the car and headed to the address given to him.

The investigator had to admit that the boy lived in a nasty and gloomy area, where suspicious people hung around between dirty and dark streets. Taeyong saw a small piercing shop between the building with boarded-up windows. The signboard hung crookedly above the entrance, giving the impression that it was about to fall on someone's head. The only window was painted by vulgar graffiti and the shop door creaked when opened. Lee stepped inside and immediately was caught how narrow the store was. The floor was made of white tiles, stained with mud and dust as if they had not been swept long ago. To the right were a broken clothes hanger and a double leather sofa with ragged backs. On the left, stood two glass showcases in which jewelry for purchase has been placed. Besides, there were also wooden stairs leading to the attic and a passage to the backroom separated by hanging macrame.

Taeyong looked around the place carefully, trying to find something that would catch his attention. As the seller didn't appear for another minute, the man began to get irritated until he heard a faint sound like a groan, followed by a loud moaning. Lee raised an eyebrow and headed for the back room, crossing the short corridor to the next door ajar. This time he could hear sounds coming from behind the door and guessed that whoever was behind them had to be very busy having sex with another person. The officer completely uninterested was about to leave the store when he heard the name of the man he wanted to meet. Smiling victoriously, the Korean knocked on the door, but another few minutes passed before someone opened it. Only when the sounds stopped did a young, pale boy with sunken cheeks, big eyes and black short hair with several blond highlights appeared in the doorway in front of Taeyong.

"The store is temporarily closed. Please come back later." The kid said mockingly, with a strange accent in his voice, after which Taeyong said it must be someone from abroad.

"Investigating officer Lee Taeyong. If you don't want me to fuck you up for illegal possession of opium, you'd better let me meet Yuta. " Taeyong raised an eyebrow, tired of smart arses who always got in his way.

And this time the threat worked, because after a moment Lee stood in the door of the misty room, in which the smell of burned opium was rising, and the boy who opened it deftly went away to return to the store and avoid problems. The officer noticed the prevailing disorder in the room where take-out packaging and dirty clothes were everywhere. In the corner under a small window, a worn mattress lay, and none other than Nakamoto Yuta was sitting on it. Taeyong stepped closer, but the other didn't seem to notice him because he was still leaning against the wall in his underwear and stretched t-shirt with a syringe stuck in his forearm.

"My name is Lee Taeyong and I'm an investigator who deals with the case of murders and kidnappings of brothel workers in this area." The Korean said in a monotonous tone taking a seat in front of the mattress on a small stool.

"I've never heard such a nice word for whore." The boy raised a mocking look at the policeman and then settled himself comfortably on the mattress, not feeling ashamed that he's showing his underwear to a stranger.

"Your name is Nakamoto Yuta, right?" Lee continued the interrogation.

"You are wasting your time, officer. I'm not going to tell you anything. " Yuta suddenly rose, meeting Taeyong's hostile gaze without hesitation.

"This is about human life, Nakamoto." Taeyong snapped at him.

"Whores are not people. No one cares about us. We're just puppets that rich people like to screw, so don't pretend that you give a fuck!" Nakamoto sneered as he pulled the empty syringe from his vein.

"You're the only person who got out of the kidnapping, damn it! You could make the murderer bear the consequences of his actions." Taeyong tried to control his emotions, but the younger was starting to get on his nerves.

"I don't care about others, you prick! Everyone here does everything to survive. This is no place for fucking heroes wanting to do justice. If someone dies, that's his fate! I'm not going to help you with anything, so fuck off." Nakamoto said, showing the man his tongue, causing Lee to almost lose his temper when he saw a shiny piercing in the middle of it, but fortunately, he quickly came back to earth.

"Listen, you bastard. You are right that I don't give a fuck, but I'm here because someone wanted me to take care of it and I'm going to follow his instructions. I'll do it without your fucking help, but think about what you might lose." Taeyong leaned forward and his and Yuta's faces were divided only by the trembling breath of the other.

"Lose?" Yuta repeated and the officer was sure that he managed to plant a seed of curiosity in the younger.

"An ampoule of pure morphine for all reliable information. Fake documents, thanks to which you will be able to leave this city and certainly the place where you work. Plus, of course, money. The amount depends on what you tell us." Lee smiled slyly, knowing that Yuta would sooner or later wonder about his offer.

"Go to hell!" The boy shouted, stepping back, and Taeyong stood up satisfied with his work. Before he left the dirty room, he left his business card on the mattress next to Yuta so that he could contact him whenever he felt like it. Then, with a smile on his lips, he left the store convinced that Nakamoto would return to him sooner than he expected.

So when two days later, in the middle of the night, Taeyong received a call from an unlisted number, he knew that he hadn't been wrong about his predictions again. Lee listened carefully to what the interlocutor had to say to him, who wasn't Nakamoto himself, but his friend from the store. The boy introduced himself as Mark and had difficulty in talking in Chinese so Taeyong suggested that they switch to English. And this time the officer was right. Lee Mark was a Canadian who fled to China for drug trafficking but got stuck here when the war between the Triad and Yakuza broke out. Now he could do nothing but survive and wait for the opportunity to escape the country. The men quickly went to the heart of the matter and Mark presented Yuta's wishes regarding the offer made by the Korean. Taeyong rolled his eyes when he heard the banal requests, not surprised that he was able to buy this boy so easily.

"So Yuta will tell you about the kidnapping, but only if you do the things I mentioned earlier. " Mark repeated.

"Band-aids, morphine, and money, I understood. Tell him he'll get everything when we meet." Lee tried to stop the yawning because the conversation was starting to bore him.

"One more thing, officer. Yuta won't meet you in public. He can't risk someone seeing you together because he'll be fucked. Come to the shop tomorrow at 10 am. You'll give me the dressings and wait for him in the car."

"As his fucking highness wishes. And now I hang up Mark. Tell Yuta that for his own good he should better be on time." The officer added, then hung up and went back to sleep, hoping that the last three hours of sleep he had left would pass without interruption.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today I'm taking the last final exam and it is geography. I hope I will do well because I studied so hard in recent months. Keep your fingers crossed for me!


	3. Glitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You are safe with me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is a new chapter for you guys to enjoy!

Taeyong reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and left his apartment when the sun was just rising in the gray sky. Driving dark, unlit streets, the man cursed under his nose this gloomy and dirty city. Hong Kong was the capital of debauchery, poverty but also disgusting wealth achieved through shady businesses. Lee hated him more than the work he pretended to do well and diligently. On days like these, filled with stuffiness and smog, Taeyong dreamed of finding himself in a different place than he was now. The only thing that kept him to the ground was the meeting he had agreed to and the matter he had to bring to an end.

Taeyong parked at the back of the piercing shop and lowered the windshield when he saw the young man waiting for him. Without an unnecessary exchange of opinions, the policeman handed him the medicine bag and stayed in the car, seeing Mark disappear in his store. Being forced to wait, Lee took a cigarette case from his jacket pocket and lit one cigarette until after a long moment Yuta appeared in front of him. The investigator was surprised by how different the young man looked this time and also that his heart started to beat in an abnormal way for a second. Yuta was wearing a loose, slightly too long hoodie, worn-out sneakers and jeans with a hole on his thighs through which he saw a purple-yellow bruise. When the boy got into the car and took a seat next to him, Taeyong couldn't resist and turned to him.

"You've changed your hair color." Lee cleared his throat, immediately regretting that he got carried away with his emotions.

"My pimp said it would attract more customers." Yuta sneered, playing with a strand of his freshly dyed red hair.

They both decided that it would be safest to talk at Taeyong's house, where they were sure that they would be alone and no one would accidentally overhear their conversation. During the ride, they were silent, and only after crossing the threshold, they exchanged a few words. The investigator offered the boy a glass of water and sat down opposite him at the table, holding out promised things. Slowly and precisely, the policeman in front of Yuta counted if the sum of money was correct. Next to them, he placed in a transparent baggie a vial of pure and good-quality morphine. Only after these activities did the Japanese look into the dark eyes of the older man and, taking a deep breath, began to talk.

"I think it was Tuesday. As usual, I appeared in a brothel in the evening and prepared myself to go out into the street. A little later, my pimp drove me to the exit ramp, where we usually look for customers. I waited maybe an hour or two, I don't remember that exactly, and then finally the car stopped." Yuta spoke monotonously as if the fact that he had escaped alive didn't mean anything to him.

"Do you remember what it looked like?" Taeyong interrupted him and met the mocking look of the younger man.

"Yes, of course. It was finally a dark night. Maybe I will dictate you its registration numbers? " Yuta scoffed, and Lee controlled himself only thanks to deep breaths.

Yuta told him about how he got into the car and didn't manage to fasten the seat belts when he was hit in the back of the head with something hard. Then he blacked out and regained consciousness after some time. He woke in the same car, but this time he was in the backseat with his hands tied and his mouth gagged. However, there was no one in the car, so Yuta opened the door with the rest of his strength and fell out onto the road. Not waiting for his torturers, he started running into the forest, hoping that they wouldn't too soon realize that he had run away.

"Who was driving the car?" Taeyong asked when the boy fell silent for a moment as if he was trying to remember what had happened after that.

"I have no idea. " Yuta responded and Lee thought he was lying but his gaze was sincere and slightly lost. "We never look at our customers. The people you meet on the street are usually people you would never want to meet again. We have a rule in our circle to avoid eye contact with them, do our job, take the money, and forget that this night took place." As he spoke these words, Yuta's voice shook and Taeyong realized that it had left some trauma in him, which he didn't want to show or admit.

"What happened when you ran away? I found you at the pond almost five kilometers from the exit ramp you're talking about." Lee gently continued the conversation, hoping that he would get as much information out of Yuta as possible.

Yuta drank some water, then looked at his hands, which slightly began to shake. He continued the conversation again, returning to getting out of the car, and from then he began to tell another fragment of the story. In order not to leave footprints in the wet ground, Yuta pulled his shoes off immediately after getting out of the car and went barefoot into the forest. He ran blindly and didn't notice the slope and rolled a few meters down, bruising himself a little. When he fell to the ground, he tried to calm down and catch his breath because he felt a severe head and lung ache. When it worked out, he moved on and got across the road, past the forest. There, on the fence, he cut a rope that bounded his hands so he could finally pull the tape off his mouth and start breathing more freely. The boy paused for a moment and Taeyong looked at him questioningly.

"What happened next?" He asked, giving another glass of water for the younger man.

"I fell to the ground and started crying." Yuta laughed, but Lee knew he did it to hide how frightened and lost he was at the time. "When the hysteria passed, I ran across the street, but I think someone had hit me, maybe a car or motorbike, but I don't remember clearly what it was. With the rest of my strength, I headed through the second forest until I fell upon reaching that lake. I had a stupify mind, all I could do was drink some water, and seeing no sense in the further escape, I stayed there, and a few minutes later I lost consciousness." Yuta finished and silence fell in the room.

"Can I ask you a few questions?" Taeyong didn't know why he asked Yuta for permission, but he felt it was necessary to bring this interrogation to an end.

"I think that's why we're here." Nakamoto gave him a weak smile, and Lee saw that the boy paled slightly and sweat started to gather on his temples and forehead.

He also noticed how intensively the younger was looking at the basket of fruit on the next dresser, which Johnny bought him a few days ago. Taeyong excused himself for a moment and went to the kitchen from where he brought a meal that he had ordered for breakfast but didn't eat it to the lack of time. He put it in front of Yuta, but the boy was indignant and only the firm tone of the policeman forced him to reach for a fork and eat the given meal.

"You said you were hit. Where exactly?" Taeyong asked when Yuta finished eating, and it took him no more than five minutes.

Yuta tilted his head to the side and pointed to his occiput. Thereby, Taeyong noticed bandages around his neck and shoulder that were exposed by a loose hoodie. The man frowned, worried about the amount of dressing, until he asked the boy what had happened to him and immediately regretted it, because he fumed with anger, hearing Yuta's answer.

"A policeman came to me, it so happens. He was really fucking drunk and loved choking. He twisted my arms and choked me so much that I lost consciousness and had to be resuscitated. " The boy laughed mockingly.

Lee gritted his teeth in anger, not quite understanding why he was so upset about what happened to the boy he didn't know. He tried to ask him a few more questions, but Yuta didn't help him much, not remembering the rest of the kidnapping. He promised, however, that when the other memories came back to him, he would contact a policeman to tell him about them. Taeyong offered to take him back to Mark's store, but Yuta thanked him, telling him he had an appointment with somebody. A moment later his phone rang and the boy got up from the table, heading for the door.

"Lucas is waiting for me, so I'm going, you shouldn't anger regular customers. Thanks for the money, Mr. Lee." Yuta gave him a fake smile and left the place, leaving Taeyong in the middle of the living room with swirling thoughts and unanswered questions in his head.

Three days later, Taeyong was awakened by his supervisor, who informed him of the next corpse found by the patrol. They belonged to one of the brothel employees, so Lee took a quick shower and immediately went to the place to look at the circumstances. He was surprised by the good condition of the corpse, which convinced him that Yuta's abduction was something planned and was to take place unlike any other. The body of the newly found victim was in impeccable condition with only one damage, which was a mark on his neck after suffocation with a belt. The corpses were also dressed, and none of the items of clothing was ruined.

After looking at the crime scene and not finding any new clues, Lee left the police station on the pretext of seeking information. However, he really went to the ammunition factory, where a few days earlier he had arranged a meeting with a man working there, who was their informant. The guard bribed by Johnny told Taeyong all the information he needed so that the man could report his boss a long and decent report, which he then sent by telegram. He didn't even leave the post office when Suh called him with information that their boss was planning a meeting with the biggest spy they had in the Triad. To this end, Johnny helped him get to Korea, and Taeyong's task was to keep order and watch the people of the Triad and make sure that nothing would happen during his absence. Suh also forbade him to contact his boss from the next day in order not to arouse any suspicion from third parties.

With nothing more to do, Lee took the obtained documents and headed for his home, but a phone call from Mark caused the man to pull over and stop the car. The quick tone of the boy's voice and his chaotic statement surprised him. He was about to hang up when he heard Yuta's weak and uncertain voice in the background. Only then did he manage to understand what Mark was saying to him. Someone broke into Yuta's room and the boy could be in danger. Taeyong, not wanting to waste more time, hung up, promising earlier that he would be there soon. When after fifteen minutes Lee parked in front of Mark's store, the boy waited for him at the entrance and looking around if nobody was watching them, led the policeman to the room occupied by the Japanese boy.

It wasn't even a flat, but a cramped, stuffy room with only one small window. The walls of the room were shabby and covered with moisture. There was only one piece of furniture inside and it was an old, damaged desk. Next to him stood a metal clothes tree hanger. In the corner of the room, on the small mattress covered with a worn blanket, Yuta was sitting, whose face showed that he was scared. This time, however, the boy didn't try to hide it. When Taeyong approached him, the younger man looked away at the desk and the policeman noticed a small piece of paper. He looked at it carefully and was speechless reading a threatening letter with a photo of himself and Yuta from the day they met.

"You promised nobody would know about our meeting, cop." Yuta glared at him, but coughed violently, barely catching his breath.

"And nobody knew about it." Lee looked at him reprovingly. "You look terrible." He added, noticing Yuta's shaking body, his cloudy eyes, and pale face.

"And you are old." The boy snorted and got up too quickly, causing him to stagger forward.

He would probably fall to the floor if Taeyong didn't catch him at the last minute. The older gently laid him on the mattress and touched his burning forehead, quickly understanding the condition in which the boy was. Being sure that Yuta would not have any medicine in his room, the policeman grabbed him under his knees and lifted him, carrying him to the car. Before leaving the store, he handed his phone to Mark and ordered to contact Johnny and tell him to bring him antipyretics. Then he announced that he was taking Yuta to his home, where the boy would be safer and recover faster in good conditions.

Before Taeyong could enter his apartment, his friend waited in front of it, who looked anxiously at the frail body that the policeman was carrying. They walked in silently, and Lee carried Yuta to his bedroom, gently laying him on the bedding. The rest he left in the hands of Suh, who examined the boy and gave him the appropriate medicines. Johnny didn't have time to stay longer than the situation required, so as soon as he finished his work, he said goodbye to his friend and left the flat. Yuta slept peacefully for several hours until he regained consciousness shortly before midnight. He jerked out of bed and screamed, not understanding where he was or how he got here. Taeyong ran out of the bathroom, where he barely managed to take a shower, and pinned the struggling Japanese to the bed so that he wouldn't hurt anybody.

"Let me fucking go!" Yuta tried unsuccessfully to pull the policeman away. In his eyes Taeyong saw for the first time pure fear and powerlessness, so he loosened his grip, but still firmly held the younger.

"It's me, Lee Taeyong. Calm down Yuta. You are in my apartment." Lee immediately regretted that he mentioned it because the younger began to yank himself even more violently.

"Please, leave me alone!" The Japanese whimpered weakly and a few tears came out his eyes. Taeyong froze, surprised by his reaction, so he slowly released his wrists and pulled him to himself. For a moment Yuta fought to free himself, but finally, he calmed down and put his head on the elder's shoulder as he hugged him.

"You are safe with me." The policeman repeated quietly, stroking the younger's hair and back. It took Yuta a bit before his breathing calmed down completely and after a while he fell asleep, so the older man laid him on the bed and covered him with the duvet, leaving him alone to recover.

Despite his best efforts, he didn't fall asleep that night. As soon as he closed his eyes, Lee could see Yuta's frightened look in front of him that couldn't leave him alone. Taeyong felt bad that his private feelings and emotions were beginning to interfere in the case he was about to solve. He began to fear that after meeting Yuta, nothing would be the same as before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really happy that I am already after the exams. I did my best and hope it'll be enough for me to get to university 😅  
> Thank you for every kind words and I look forward to reading your comments! ❤


	4. Bait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You can stay here for longer."

Yuta woke up in the morning with severe pain in his head and body. Even before he opened his eyes, the boy stretched under the covers and slowly sat up in bed, leaning against the headboard. His bloodshot eyes were hardly accustomed to the bright rays of sunlight shining through the windows. The boy wrapped the sheets around himself, trying to remember last night, but not much was coming back to him. Immersing himself in thought, the Japanese didn't notice the half-open door to the room, and after a while, Taeyong appeared by his bed.

This time the man didn't resemble the representative of the profession he represented daily. On the contrary, the Korean was wearing loose sweatpants with a tank top and damp hair, as he had most likely just stepped out of the shower. Their eyes met each other and Yuta turned his head with difficulty, wanting to erase the look of concern and worry on the other's face. As Lee sat on the edge of the bed, Yuta flinched but chose not to pull away as he first wanted.

"I hope that you feel better." Taeyong said honestly, smiling awkwardly at the younger boy while scratching his neck because he didn't know how to act.

"Why am I here?" Nakamoto closed his eyes to take a deep breath.

"I won't hurt you. Trust me. You are safe here." Lee slowly and gently brushed a strand of unruly red hair from the boy's face, but Yuta quickly pushed his hand away and for the first time since their meeting, Taeyong noticed a pinkish blush on his cheeks.

"That is not the answer to my question." The Japanese replied in a whisper, feeling his body begin to tremble slightly.

“Mark called me and said someone had broken into your room. When I got there you were in a bad shape and then you passed out, so I took you to my place so that nothing bad would happen to you." Taeyong sighed.

“I just wanted you to take that damn letter. You didn't have to bother yourself with looking after me. I am not a child, I could handle it." Yuta still avoided looking at the policeman, but Taeyong understood his defensive attitude.

"But I wanted to. My job doesn' not oblige me to do so. Neither the case that I am leading. I just felt like I had to do it." The Korean explained and the boy quickly turned to give him a hostile glare.

"I won't thank you for that, so don't count on it." The policeman quickly noticed the fear in Yuta's eyes and how instinctively the boy moved away, tightening the duvet around his body.

"I'll make breakfast. The bathroom is to the right of your room's exit. I left you clean clothes in it. When you're ready, come. Where is the kitchen, I think you still remember." Taeyong got out of bed and left the room to give the other a moment to collect his thoughts.

When Lee left the room, Yuta lay in bed for a while, wondering what to do next. Feeling how much his clothes were sticking to his sweaty skin, the Japanese decided to take a shower and slowly left the room without Taeyong hearing him. Listening to the sounds coming from the kitchen, the boy found the bathroom and once again made sure that he locked the door. Taeyong didn't look like scum, but Yuta learned after years in Hong Kong not to trust anyone.

The bathroom was very spacious with a walk-in shower, bathtub, wall-mounted toilet, and wide sink. There was a metal hanger in its corner, on which the boy threw his towel and clothes. Shuddering as his eyes met his reflection in the mirror, Yuta looked away and quickly entered the cabin so he wouldn't have to look at himself any longer. The hot water was hitting his tense muscles, allowing the Japanese to forget about everything for a moment. Such a luxury Yuta could afford only when he stayed with Lucas.

When he finished showering, Yuta changed into clean clothes that the officer had left for him. They were a bit too big for him, because the sleeve of his hoodie was right down to his fingers, and the pants were too loose at the waist. Quickly wiping his hair and face, the boy took his dirty clothes and went to the kitchen where Taeyong was finishing making breakfast.

In silence, they sat down together at a table that had more dishes than Yuta had seen in the last month. Lee prepared scrambled eggs with bacon, pancakes, bread with preserves, porridge, and rice with fried eggs. Also, he offered the boy a glass of juice and a cup of tea, not knowing what the younger one would prefer to drink. The Japanese boy ate with relish, trying to control the faster heartbeat. When the meal was finished, Taeyong got up from the table to clean up, but not wanting to appear ill-mannered, the younger one offered to help him.

"What happened that you were in such a bad state?" Taeyong finally asked, wiping dry the plates Yuta was washing up.

"I was exhausted after a few days in a row at work." The boy replied, pulling the rubber gloves off his hands.

"This Lucas, that you mentioned earlier, led you to this?" Lee looked at the Japanese, who glared at him.

“You are extremely curious today, officer Lee. And no, I don't sleep with Lucas anymore, it's just work that made me tired." Yuta returned to the dining room, and the policeman followed him, feeling a slight tightness in his stomach, but also a strange relief that Yuta had nothing to do with this whole Lucas.

"You're not sleeping together anymore? So, have you ever done this?" Taeyong couldn't understand why this interested him so much, so he couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, cop. How else could I get to know him if not through a brothel? Do you think that in my spare time I go for walks in Hong Kong and meet people in cozy cafes?" Nakamoto snapped at the policeman, but even so, he told Taeyong about his relationship with Lucas.

With a strange sentiment in his voice, Yuta began to tell the policeman how he met the younger Lucas a year ago when he first came to his brothel. Wong came from a wealthy Hong Kong family to whom he was the heir but found out shortly after his eighteenth birthday that he had leukemia. As he was raised in a bubble of perfection from an early age, Lucas didn't know much about the world around him.

He was naive, innocent, and had too much goodness in him than the whole world deserved. So here it is, after hearing the terrible diagnosis, the boy broke down and made a list of things he wants to do before he dies. It so happened that one of them was to lose his virginity, so without much thinking, the young man went to the first brothel and bought the night with its best employee. And so he and Yuta met.

"So he just came and bought you?" Lee interrupted the boy who gave him a warning look.

"Would you like to figure out the rest of the story yourself?" Yuta silenced the policeman.

After Lucas spent the night with Yuta, he immediately regretted it, apologizing for his behavior and telling him about the diagnosis he had heard. The Japanese felt sorry for him, so he tried to cheer him up and encourage him to seek treatment. This is how their strange and, at the same time, the most sincere friendship Yuta had had the opportunity to develop with someone since coming to the Triad began. They began to see each other regularly, once a week, except that they didn't fucked with each other but talked and laughed. After some time, Lucas managed to bribe Yuta's pimp, and by paying three times the rate he could take the Japanese home for the night.

It was only there that Yuta could really rest. Lucas pampered him with hot baths, hearty meals, warm pajamas, and a soft bed. These shared moments allowed the Japanese to keep common sense and hope that maybe one day he would get out of this swamp in which he is stuck now. Their relationship was honest and pure. Apart from playing at play station and watching TV, the boys talked a lot, sometimes just lying next to each other in bed, about the present, the past and most of all the future. One thing was for sure. They both felt that in this cold world they had at least each other and they hoped that even when they will part, they would still be in touch.

Later, Lucas received information that a bone marrow donor was found willing to help him. Lucas celebrated his nineteenth birthday with Yuta and the newly met Jungwoo, who, apart from being the boy's savior, turned out to be an excellent candidate for a boyfriend. Nakamoto could see that Jungwoo treated him a bit dryly and harshly, but he was lovely and affectionate towards Lucas, so the Japanese decided not to worry about it.

"I'm sorry I misjudged your friend. I can see now that he is a good boy." Taeyong was impressed with the story he heard. He didn't expect that Yuta, in the world he lived, would find someone to become friends with.

“Only terribly inexperienced and naive. One day it will hurt him." Nakamoto rolled his eyes and there was a moment of silence in the dining room. It was interrupted only by Yuta, who got up from his chair, getting ready to leave the apartment.

"You can stay here for longer." Taeyong grabbed Yuta by the wrist but released him quickly as the boy shuddered.

“I can't leave the brothel, so thank you. I will return the clothes tomorrow after I washed them." Nakamoto gave Taeyong a sad smile and the man felt a stab in his stomach.

"At least let me give you a ride." Lee grabbed the car keys and left Yuta no room for discussion.

This time, they drove in awkward silence along the streets of Hong Kong's dirty outskirts. Taeyong felt that he should be more firm and force the younger one to stay with him, but on the other hand, they were strangers to each other and the policeman knew he had no right to decide for the Japanese. They had barely parked in front of Mark's shop when a noise reached their ears and Lee realized someone was shooting at their car. The man immediately regretted opening the window, for he felt a stinging pain in his shoulder as the bullet brushed against his muscle. Yuta screamed in terror and shock, so the Korean instinctively forced him to bend his body and bury his head between his legs, while he started the car and drove away, turning home.

His arm was tearing him like mad and Yuta panicking in the seat next to him didn't help Taeyong to stay calm. Lee messily parked a few streets from his building to make it difficult for the offender to get to his apartment if he was being followed. The man tightened his hand on the bleeding arm and nudged the boy that he could straighten up. The policeman froze for a moment, seeing the condition of the younger. Yuta's eyes were glazed with the tears he was trying to hold back. His lips were tightly pressed from nerves, and his hands were trembling madly. Taeyong grabbed his hand with his free one and squeezed it tightly to get his attention.

''Yuta, it's all right now. Let's go home. The police will take care of it." The Korean said, and the two were soon back at the cop's apartment.

Lee didn't have time to call Johnny and have him find the perpetrator of the shooting, because Yuta dragged him to the bathroom, wanting to treat his wound immediately. Taeyong reluctantly stripped off his white shirt, which was now stained by his scarlet blood. Even though the situation was serious, he smiled proudly as he noticed the blush on the boy's cheeks as he looked at his muscular chest.

"Do you like what you see?" The policeman joked.

"Shut up for your good." Yuta looked away to reach the first aid kit and began treating the elder's wound, starting with disinfecting it.

He did it slowly and carefully, fearing that it would cause the policeman unnecessary pain. Meanwhile, Taeyong rushed him, as he was used to such events. The slightest touch of a bullet was nothing compared to what he had experienced in the past. Yuta focused on his work, biting his lip to control himself at the sight of the tattoos adorning the Korean's body. One of them stretched from the shoulder through the shoulder blade to the wrist of the man's right hand. The second adorned his entire back and was a mixture of signs and images representing his affiliation with the Korean mafia. The last one, a tiger ran along the left rib, half covering the large stabbed scar.

"They suit you. These tattoos." The Japanese's face turned red, and the boy ran his tongue over his dry lips.

“I like your earrings. Especially the one in your tongue." Taeyong responded in a whisper, trying not to scare the younger one, who looked insecure.

“People say it's useful. Allegedly it makes 'you know what' more pleasurable." Nakamoto replied mockingly, unable to accept the compliment.

“I don't care what they're useful for. You just look pretty with them." Lee lifted the boy's chin and looked into his surprised and sparkling eyes.

"I'll better go." Yuta murmured as he looked down.

"Maybe you'll stay after all? Are you sure it will be safe to go back to the place where someone just shot at us?" Taeyong himself didn't understand why, but grabbed Yuta's hand and squeezed it gently. To his surprise, the boy returned the gesture.

"Then I have to call Mark and ask him to bring me some things." He sighed deeply, and Lee smiled triumphantly.

"I will prepare a room for you. And don't bother with the brothel. I got things done with them, so you don't have to go back there anymore. Johnny will tell you the details tomorrow when he comes to visit us." Taeyong quickly got up from his seat to leave the bathroom before Yuta would start asking him uncomfortable questions.

"Huh!? Lee Taeyong, come back here and tell me what's going on!" The younger man shouted after him, but the policeman was so relieved in his heart that the boy agreed to stay with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's taking so long to update but things have gotten a little complicated and I don't have much time lately. Now I'm working twelve hours a day, I'm applying for college, and I've just found out that my mom is seriously ill. It may be that the chapters will appear even later. I apologize in advance for that, but I will always focus on priorities first. I hope you will stay anyway and still want to read this story. I'm not going to abandon it, it might just take me longer to add a new chapter.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for all your kind words and interest, I love reading the comments you leave me 🧡💜💚


	5. Allure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taeyong notes that the more he tries to avoid Yuta's charms, the harder it becomes for him to control the faster beating of his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's nice to come back to you guys! I made a little gift for you, you can check it out here!: https://padlet.com/habanero00/lp8htx3od18jk5te

Yuta did want to know what Taeyong meant when he said he had settled all the errands in the brothel where he worked but wasn't entirely sure if he wanted it to be that way. Well, he was now sitting in only boxer shorts and an oversized cop's shirt on the couch in the living room, his hands still handcuffed, when Johnny entered the apartment, stopping in place after closing the door. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Taeyong entered the living room right after him, stripped of his upper garment, with a tie in his hands.

"If I'm disturbing you, I'd love to come another day." Johnny threw in the air and a malicious smirk appeared on his face.

"It's not how it looks like!" Yuta jerked off the couch, but fell to the carpet, forgetting that his legs were tied with a policeman's leather belt.

"And they call ME a weirdo! I didn't know you liked BDSM, Yongie." Suh took off his jacket, hanging it in the hallway.

"Just go to the kitchen and pour yourself a whiskey John because you're telling bullshit!" Taeyong intervened, helping Yuta get up off the floor and get him to his normal state.

"As you wish, my dear!" Johnny headed across the apartment, pleased with his job.

**A day earlier**

Mark thought he would be more surprised when Yuta informed him that he would temporarily stay with a policeman. In part, for a moment he felt sad that the only person who accompanied him in this dirty shop was leaving him, but it soon passed when the boy realized that it was the only chance for a normal life for the Japanese. So, without remorse, the Canadian packed the boy's things in a small bag, because there were not many of them, and on the same day he took them to Yuta, wishing him the best.

When he returned, he was surprised to find that a tall man was waiting for him in the store, with his appearance and behavior not matching the society living in the suburbs. The mysterious stranger was a tall, young man with ashen hair and surprisingly delicate features. He held a cigarette case in his hand, and as he looked toward the salesman, he grinned, revealing a series of white teeth. The first thought that went through Mark's mind was the question of why the hell this man was here and what he was looking for in such a dingy place. When he approached him to ask about the purpose of the visit, the man quickly said goodbye and left the store.

"Fucking strange." Mark said under his breath and headed for the back room to warm up some food from yesterday's dinner.

Meeting the same man every day who said nothing became more and more disturbing for the Canadian until finally one day Mark ventured to accost a man who was looking around his store for no particular reason or intention to buy anything.

"Can I help you with something?" Mark asked as he stood behind the counter.

"I'm interested if anyone lived in the attic room here." The stranger replied smiling at Mark, but the boy wasn't convinced of the man's intentions.

“Someone used to live here but moved out some time ago. We rarely ran into each other." Mark lied, pretending to urgently need to clean the jewelry cases.

"Nakamoto Yuta? Have you heard about this person?" The man approached unexpectedly but then moved back further into the shop.

"I'm sorry, but no." The Canadian looked away, starting to worry.

"Is that so?" The stranger smiled strangely, giving Mark a goosebump. "Well, I'll go now. See you soon." The man quit and left the store, and only then did the boy realize that he was holding his breath the whole time.

Meanwhile, while Taeyong was busy with his work, Yuta spent his days alone locked in the four walls of a room that Taeyong had given him as his property. Sometimes, when the officer arrived early, the two would go to a nearby pizzeria to eat something other than scrambled eggs or toast. Nakamoto didn't complain about their monotonous meals, as he preferred to eat one dish all the time rather than recalling the days when he didn't eat anything for several days.

“Give me something to do. I get bored of sitting in this house all day and staring at the ceiling." Yuta said one time as he and Taeyong were driving home by car.

"I told you what you can do." Lee didn't understand the younger's problems.

“Doing laundry, cleaning and cooking are not all-day activities. I know you're happy to have a housewife, but I'm dying of boredom when you're away." Nakamoto rolled his eyes, annoyed that the policeman didn't understand him.

"So when I'm with you, you feel better?" The policeman parked the car and smiled seductively.

"If you were at least entertaining, maybe I would have more fun." Yuta ignored him and entered the apartment first.

Their conversation broke off at this point because the boy took some necessary things and left the apartment to go to Lucas, like every week. Taeyong at that time took a hot shower and before he could turn on the TV and drink some whiskey, a Japanese burst into the apartment with an annoyed face. The policeman looked at him in surprise and raised an eyebrow as the boy entered the kitchen and emptied the contents of his glass all at once.

"Weren't you going to stay...?" The policeman didn't finish as Yuta covered his mouth with his hand.

"Be quiet, Lee. You men, without exception, are all the same." The Japanese spoke in his native language, forgetting that Taeyong, in a way, could communicate in Japanese.

"As you wish, kitten." Lee watched with satisfaction as the boy's cheeks turned pink, and he didn't manage to ask him what happened when Yuta turned on his heel and almost ran to his room.

The following days passed almost as much as the previous ones, except that Taeyong allowed Yuta to help him with his work from time to time. So the boy made various phone calls, completed stupid documents, and collected things from places that the policeman told him to visit. Since Yuta didn't have much to do today, he decided to drop by Mark and pay him a short visit to make sure the boy was still alive and not overdosed.

As usual, Yuta didn't find anyone behind the counter, so he immediately entered the back room and burst into the Canadian's room without knocking. Mark was lying on the floor by the mattress in his underwear, but he immediately got up when he saw the Japanese standing in the doorway. The Canadian had lost a little weight since Yuta moved out, and his hair was now a neon pink color.

"Yuta! How nice to see you again! " The boy suggested the younger one a place on the stool, and after he put on his blouse, he went to make them tea.

They chatted all afternoon because Mark, as usual, didn't have many customers. When one came to pierce his nipples, he didn't mind Yuta sitting next to him and continued chatting with his friend. Nakamoto mainly talked about what he was doing so far when Taeyong had yet to give him tasks to do. After the man, satisfied with the piercing, left the premises, Mark took Yuta back to the backroom to mention the strange man who had been visiting his shop frequently and asking about him lately.

Nakamoto was surprised because, from Mark's description, he didn't remember ever having contact with such a person or even a client in a brothel. Nor could he have come up with any interesting idea for which anyone would want to know him or meet him. Even though Yuta had been clean for a few weeks, he succumbed to Mark and let himself be persuaded to smoke opium. But to make sure that Taeyong wouldn't recognize the drug when he returned home, the boy rinsed his mouth thoroughly and sprinkled himself with Mark's perfume, which he hoped would cover the scent of the drug.

Yuta cursed himself while walking home, he felt his head throbbing from the drug he had taken. He was angry with himself for allowing himself to be persuaded to return to his old addiction after so long. Oddly enough, the only thing he feared was that Lee would get angry with him and break their contract. The very thought that he would have to go back to the brothel and the dirty room in Mark's shop, make tears welled up in Yuta's eyes.

The boy entered the apartment as quietly as he could, but as soon as he took off his shoes, he heard two voices talking loudly in the living room. Nakamoto didn't know Korean well enough to know what the discussion was about, but he figured it was something very important because Taeyong, to whom one of the voices belonged, had never gesticulated as vividly as he was now. Yuta did not want to interrupt them and started tiptoeing towards his room, but due to his misfortune, through the mirages in front of his eyes, he bumped into the dresser and knocked off the basket with fruit, which rolled all over the floor.

"Fuck me!" The Japanese hissed as the living room fell silent, and Taeyong turned his full attention to him.

Yuta fell to his knees and began to pick fruits, hoping that his condition would not arouse any suspicions in the policeman. There were a few more whispers to his ears and before the boy got up from the floor, he noticed that only he and Taeyong remained in the apartment.

"I'm glad you're home now." Taeyong said, sitting down on the couch, and Yuta could see the fatigue on his face.

"Mark." The boy hiccupped. "I was visiting Mark." Nakamoto didn't understand what was starting to happen to him, but he felt a strong urge to tell Taeyong about everything he was doing today.

"Good. You can do whatever you want." Lee apparently didn't notice that there was something wrong with Yuta because immediately after cutting the conversation, he reached for the alcohol glass and emptied it to the bottom.

The Japanese watched him with incredible curiosity until he walked into the living room on shaky legs and before he could understand what he had done, he found himself on the lap of an impassive policeman. Taeyong watched him blankly until he gently pushed the younger one to take a seat on the couch next to him, not on top of him. For unknown reasons, this gentle gesture made Yuta's heart skip a beat.

"Who it was?" The boy asked, staring into space to avoid eye contact with the older.

"My friend." Lee replied shortly, pouring himself another glass of whiskey.

"What did he want?" The boy whispered as he grabbed the policeman's arm.

"Talk about the past." Taeyong reached for the glass again, but Yuta overtook him and drank up.

"Tell me. About yourself. And about your past." Opium mixed with alcohol began to affect the younger boy so intensely that he began to get lost in his actions and all he wanted at that moment was to focus Taeyong's attention on himself as much as possible.

The Korean began to suspect that the boy might have taken something stronger, but he was also not sober enough to get the situation under control immediately. Although he had no plans to confide about his past, by some magical miracle he began to reveal his innermost secrets and pains to Yuta. He told him about his dream to be a policeman who protects the weak, about the brutal crime committed against his sister, about his imprisonment, and what he experienced in it. About how he found himself in the ranks of the mafia, how he became the right hand of its leader, and how it happened that the Triad is now his second home.

Yuta, despite his foggy mind, absorbed every information from Taeyong like a sponge, praying in his soul that he wouldn't forget any of them tomorrow. His heart was bleeding, hearing about what the man had gone through and he felt a surge of care and sympathy towards him. Suddenly a thought arose in his mind and a desire to make it up to him in any way.

Not knowing any other way to cheer someone up, Nakamoto stated that he would use the only thing he could do reasonably well. Without even trying to consider whether the policeman wanted the same, Yuta began kissing his neck, jaw, and collarbones in several places, gently caressing the skin with his teeth or tongue. At the same time, his trembling hands went to the buttons on the older man's shirt, which the Japanese skillfully unbuttoned, leaving the man without the top attire.

Taeyong passionately grabbed his smaller hips, pulling him towards himself, which made Yuta moan against his will, taught that he has no right to show emotions and feelings when he pleases someone. The policeman ran his cool hands over the younger boy's burning hot back, right after he got rid of his thin T-shirt. Yuta, swaying on his legs, got up from the couch and threw down his pants on the ground. Immediately after that, he knelt in front of the policeman on the floor, and his hands didn't have time to grasp the fly as the Korean stepped away from him like electrocuted.

"No, Yuta. It's wrong. We can't do this now. I'm drunk and you are high." The policeman came to his senses, regaining his sobriety in a second. Yuta didn't even try to deny. He felt his head started to throb and he could see nothing but a blurry figure before his eyes. The man's words were one big gibberish to him now.

Taeyong got up from the couch and the younger one who wanted to stop him staggered and fell to the floor. Lee felt terrible that he had almost taken advantage of Yuta by not having control of his drunken mind. He gently wrapped his shirt over the boy's thin frame and grabbed him under his knees to lay the frail and almost unconscious body on the couch. Nakamoto was waving his limbs, clearly out of control over his body, so Taeyong handcuffed him and tied his feet, but weakly enough not to hurt him.

"I'm sorry." The Korean gently stroked the boy's cheek and immediately went to the bathroom to take a cool shower, hoping it would make his mind sober.

The next morning Yuta woke up with a strong headache, but apart from it, his whole body ached, and above all his heart, from the shame, he felt when he remembered yesterday evening. The boy jerked on the couch, but a cool hand put him back in place, placing a cold compress on his forehead that eased the pain.

"How are you feeling?" Taeyong asked quietly, sitting down next to Yuta, who immediately stiffened.

"Better. I'm sorry for everything. It's because… ” The boy started to lose his breath on nerves, so Lee stopped his speech by closing his mouth.

“We were both not ourselves yesterday. Let's just forget what happened and please don't do it again." Lee interjected, and the Japanese felt an inner relief that the man wasn't angry with him.

"I will not." Yuta nodded in promise, but Taeyong didn't seem pleased.

"Listen Yuta, I think you don't quite know what I'm talking about." The policeman got up suddenly and the younger one, not understanding him, sat down on the couch with his brow furrowed.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think..." Yuta didn't finish the sentence when he felt the other man's warm lips on his. A previously unknown thrill of pleasure passed through his body and the boy moaned shamefully, unable to kiss him back, as he had never experienced a proper one.

"I try not to do anything to you because I respect you, but when you act like yesterday, these instincts that I'm trying so hard to suppress for you are awakening in me." Taeyong whispered against the younger's lips.

"I ..." Nakamoto couldn't utter a word. His body trembled slightly, and his cheeks burned with heat as the policeman touched his face as gently as if his body was made of fragile glass.

"Can I kiss you again?" Taeyong asked, his eyes burning with longing.

"I n-no ... I can't! N-nobody kiss- kissed me ...ever... ” Yuta didn't manage to finish the sentence when he felt Taeyong's lips on his again. He slowly closed his eyelids, letting the older man lead their kiss.

"I'll teach you, don't worry." Lee smiled broadly, pecking the Japanese boy on the forehead tenderly.

As they were about to meet again in a gentle kiss, the doorbell rang in the apartment and the two men quickly moved apart with blushes on their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who is reading and still waiting for new chapters! I hope you are all fine and healthy (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)


	6. Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hold me tighter, please ..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me father for that shitty smut.  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> Anyway, enjoy the new chapter guys!

A disturbing thought had been racing in Lucas's head lately, and it had haunted him. After kidnapping his friend, the Chinese boy became very concerned about who would be capable of such a cruel crime. He also didn't understand why his target was Yuta, who had nothing to offer. Lucas didn't like the fact that every time something bad was happening in Hong Kong, his loved one was away from home and couldn't be reached. The thought that something might have happened to him made the young man unable to sleep a night.

However, the purpose of Jungwoo's absence from home turned out to be a serious question mark. Every time Lucas asked him where he was going, or when he'll be back he got the same boring answer over and over; "Don't worry about it." The elder was lovely and treated him well from the first days of their meeting, so it was very hard for him to doubt his good intentions. Not once did Jungwoo give him reasons not to trust him.

Until last Saturday. Wong wanted to invite Yuta to his place that evening, and Jungwoo packed a few things he needed to leave the apartment at their disposal for that one night. The Japanese, however, canceled their meeting, and shortly after, without contacting him, Jungwoo returned home. But he didn't answer any question that was put to him, just blamed everything on changing plans and exhaustion. Thus, leaving Lucas with a thousand doubts, he made the boy peer into his bag, which the man had left at the bottom of the wardrobe in the hall. The young man was speechless with shock as he found packages of syringes, disposable gloves, and chloroform in it.

"Yuta?" Lucas, pale as a wall, called his friend. "Sorry, but something came up and I won't be home, so don't come over." He said, trying to control his shaking hands. The Chinese desperately wanted to make sure his assumptions were not true, so he devised a plan of action, hoping that Yuta would take the bait.

"Okay, no problem. Take care, Xuxi!" The Japanese replied and hung up, and Lucas prayed that it would all turn out to be a misunderstanding.

*****

Yuta stated that Lucas sounded weird, but was too busy working to bother about it. Taeyong had him scan over two hundred ID cards of Triad members who had recently left China to travel to Korea. Gaining their identities and appearance, the policeman made the task easier for his boss, who now knew who might be a potential spy and who should be eliminated. He tried to do it quickly, even though the printer was really slow and there were no more than fifteen minutes until the man's return.

Copying the last pages, the young man heard the door being unlocked and ran out of the room to greet the policeman. However, not being careful enough, Yuta slipped on the sheets of paper scattered around the room and fell to the floor with a bang. His whole life flashed before his eyes, but the boy didn't get up even when a disturbed policeman was at his side. He unexpectedly remembered a very important thing that his brain had previously forced out of memory.

"Woman. One of them is a woman. " He repeated over and over as Taeyong gently sited him on the floor, checking for any wounds.

"What are you talking about?" Lee asked, touching the smaller's cheek to get his attention.

“There are two murderers, one of them is a woman. I just remembered. " Nakamoto looked at Taeyong as if he didn't understand why the elder didn't know what he was talking about.

Lee was about to ask for details when his phone started ringing. Quickly answering the call, the man turned pale hearing who he was talking to. Without hesitating, he hung up and directed his worried gaze on the regaining consciousness Yuta.

"Fuck, they'll be here soon."

"Who?" Yuta looked at him confused.

"Undress and lie on the bed right now." Taeyong picked the boy up from the floor by the shoulders and began to lead him to his bedroom.

"What the fuck??" The Japanese squeaked, distrustful of what he heard.

"Do it, or if the Triad comes in, they'll start to wonder what a kid in such good shape is doing here." The policeman looked at him stressed out.

Yuta stiffened upon hearing the gang's name. He started to take off his clothes in a hurry, having trouble with buttons because his hands were shaking with fear. He also tried not to look at the policeman standing next to him, who for some reason began to jack off. Then, without much trouble, Lee grabbed him in his arms and laid him on the bed, while throwing the sheets all over him. To the boy's horror, the policeman also got rid of his clothes and covered them with a scrap of sheets, revealing only their pale legs and chests.

The boy looked fearfully at the man's face, fearing that he had made a mistake in his judgment. His heart was beating madly and his lean body began to tremble with nerves. Lee tried to avoid touching the younger one as best he could. He could feel his nervousness, but also the soft skin that didn't help him to control himself. Knowing that their deception might fail, the policeman decided to reach inside the bedside table from where he took a small pill and directed it towards the boy's lips.

"Put it under your tongue, because if you continue to shake like this, you'll betray us." Taeyong said, but Yuta looked unconvinced. “It's an immediate drug. You won't be able to move or speak, but you will hear and see." He explained, but the young man's eyes only widened in terror.

"No! No, leave me alone. You promised!” The Japanese tried to flee but was immediately pinned to the bed by a stronger man.

"Yuta, calm down! They'll be here any minute! Just pretend we're fucking or they'll start asking where you got here. I promise I won't hurt you, I won't even touch you." Taeyong looked at him desperately, afraid that Yuta would turn them in, but the boy finally opened his mouth and took the pill. Tears gathered in his eyes and even though he tried to control them, they still started to flow down his sunken cheeks.

"Good boy. Everything will be alright. Trust me. I won't let anyone hurt you." Taeyong started stroking his hair to help him relax as he heard footsteps on the stairs.

Without waiting any longer, he began to gently move over Yuta's body, simulating their sex. Moments later, three men entered the room, completely unimpressed. Taeyong gave them his fake smile, and the others took their place on the couch, waiting for him to finish. Two minutes later, Taeyong grabbed his cock, feigning orgasm, cumming on Yuta's chest, accidentally staining his chin with his semen. For a moment he wanted to reach for a tissue and wipe the innocent boy clean, but he held back, remembering he had a role to play.

So Taeyong got up from the bed, leaving the smaller body stiff, and dressed his pants nonchalantly, not worrying about being watched. Then he gladly accepted the cigarette he was offered and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for one of the men to speak.

"You got a nice toy, Yong." One of the disgusting men laughed, and Taeyong tried as hard as he could to not knock his teeth out.

"Too stiff, but at least he was cheap." Lee lied so as not to arouse suspicion. He couldn't get out of his head the sight of the slim, pale body of the boy looking gorgeous and innocent beneath him with tears filling his eyes. However, not wanting to get a boner while talking to the members of the mafia, the man pushed the memory aside.

“Next time come to us. We have better whores." Said the bald fat man, getting up from the couch, which sagged under his weight.

"Enough of this chitchat. If you are done jizzing, let's go out and talk. Who knows if this little whore can't hear what we're saying." The third of the men who had arrived got up, headed for the door and Taeyong followed him without question, though in the back of his head he imagined him tearing the throat of a cruel gangster.

Lee spoke to the men for an exceptionally long time, but the information he got was worth it. Nevertheless, all the time his thoughts wandered to Yuta, worrying about the condition of the younger ones. Upon learning that the Triad was going to strike one of its largest troops on Korea at night, Taeyong promised them to reveal the places where the Koreans were allegedly hiding. It was one big lie, as Jung's troops had long been preparing for this moment to be able to regain their freedom.

So as soon as the conversation was over, Lee told his leader Jaehyun every single thing he'd learned. The man was pleased with what he heard, informing Taeyong himself about the rebellion against the occupiers that had begun in the morning. However, what shocked the ex-policeman was the gangster's last statement before hanging up.

"Mission accomplished. You've done a terrific job and now go back. I am waiting for you in Korea, a ship will be coming for you soon." Taeyong didn't have time to answer him because Jaehyun hung up.

Heart beating with emotions, the man returned after another twenty minutes and immediately ran into the bedroom, where he found Yuta regaining consciousness. Without wasting any time he wiped his body and handed him the clothes so that he could cover himself. The two couldn't meet each other's eyes at first, but eventually, Lee hugged the smaller one, feeling the latter begin to tremble.

“They're gone. We did it. Great job Yu, I'm proud of you." Taeyong whispered soothingly as he stroked the younger man's hair.

Yuta sobbed several times, but minute by minute he felt calmer and safer. Now that he was back in Taeyong's arms, he allowed himself to relax, snuggling closer to the man, leaving hardly any space between them.

Only after a long moment, Taeyong moved away from Yuta to wipe the boy's wet eyes. The boy wore his shirt unbuttoned and the man instinctively reached down to button it up. As he was about to go about it, Yuta stopped him, grabbing Taeyong by the shoulders and pulling him towards himself.

Taeyong didn't know how it happened, but before he regained his sobriety, Yuta straddled him, peppering his chest with wet kisses. From time to time, his teeth gently bit the skin in sensitive areas, making Taeyong sigh deeply. The policeman's shirt hung loosely on the younger man's back, who this time was shaking with excitement, not fear.

Taeyong pulled Yuta closer and grabbed his chin to finally taste his lips. It was messy and intense with a lot of saliva and teeth grinding but concurrently so lovely and titillating. Their tongues tangled with each other as neither of them wanted to be dominated. Eventually, Yuta succumbed as the policeman bit his lower lip, tearing a low moan from his mouth.

"Are you sure about ...?" Taeyong didn't finish the sentence as Yuta tugged hard on his hair and closed their lips in another passionate kiss.

"Yes, damn it, yes!" The Japanese gasped, licking his wet lips.

Lee immediately got rid of his T-shirt and pants, leaving only his underwear. He firmly grasped Yuta's buttocks and carried him to his bedroom, where he threw the boy in the middle of the bed, reaching for the condom and handcuffs from the nightstand.

"I'll fuck you until all you can say is my name." Lee took the smaller man's hands, handcuffing them to the bed frame. Then, at a slow pace, he began to give the other's body little kisses, watching how Yuta squirm impatiently under him.

Yuta sighed deeply, arching his spine into an arc as the policeman's mouth closed on his sensitive nipple. The man bit it lightly, in the meantime massaging his waist. To give the younger one a chance to catch his breath, Taeyong moved lower, biting the skin around the boy's abdomen, playing with his belly button piercing. When Lee was pleased with the love bites left on the Japanese's skin, he slowly slid his pants and boxer shorts off him, immediately grabbing his hardening penis, which poked his cheek, then put it in his mouth.

There were tears of delight in Yuta's eyes, because Taeyong had an incredible talent, and the way he sucked him hard made the younger one feel that he would come any moment. Not wanting to end their intercourse so quickly, Yuta tightened his legs on the elder's shoulders, signaling him to stop. With a vulgar sound, Taeyong released the flushed manhood from his mouth and brazenly licked his lips before leaning over the younger one to kiss him tenderly.

Before they became one, Taeyong made sure Yuta was prepared enough. The elder wanted him more and more with each passing moment but remembered that his priority was to make Yuta feel good and safe when they did it.

The first minutes drove him crazy. Yuta was tight and wet and had it not been for his common sense, Taeyong would brutally thrust into him long ago. However, something in Yuta's blurry gaze, in his parted, pink, glossy lips greedily gasping for air and in pale thighs trembling with bliss made the man want to make love to the boy for the first time in his life, not just to fuck him senseless. He stopped to adore this beautiful creature and reached for the handcuff keys to freed the smaller man's hands, wrapping them around his neck.

When Yuta allowed him, the man began to slowly move in him, gently lifting the smaller's hips upwards. The Japanese made soft moans, directed straight to the older's ear, with each minimal brush against his prostate. Finding a common rhythm, Taeyong sped up, making Yuta grasp his arms more tightly, tugging at his hair with trembling hand.

"Taee ... Yongg ..." Yuta made a sound similar to purring as the policeman continued to please him.

"I'm close, baby ..." Taeyong replied, thrusting faster and faster.

"Hold me tighter, please ..." Yuta whispered, and tears filled his eyes as he felt the approaching orgasm.

They both came almost at the same time, the younger on his lower abdomen and Taeyong in him. The man pulled out of Yuta gently, tying and throwing the used condom into the trash. Immediately after that, he went back to bed to put in his arms the tired body of the smaller, who was slowly beginning to fall asleep.

"Would you like me to tattoo you?" Taeyong asked, stroking the bare back of the Japanese.

"No, because it will hurt." Yuta pouted and the policeman couldn't help but start placing little kisses on his pretty face.

"Come on, you'll be safer with it." Taeyong sat down, leaning against the headrest to reach for his cigarettes, but Yuta stopped him.

"Okay, but you won't smoke while you doing it. I hate the smell of cigarettes." Yuta puffed out his chest proudly, and Lee wanted to deny his absurd request, but somehow couldn't.

"So be it." The cop rolled his eyes and got out of bed to take the equipment he needed.

Yuta knew that he was right about the fact that it would hurt. Even though Taeyong gave him painkillers, the boy still shed a dozen tears when, within five hours, a Korean tattooed his back. The Japanese boy was already half afraid of how he would sleep and function for several days, but it was too late to back out. The only thing that comforted him was a beautiful black panther that the policeman had created especially for him.

And although he didn't tell Yuta that he was conscripting him into his gang in this way and that he would face enormous consequences for it, Taeyong knew there was no other option. For the safety of his beloved, he was ready to give anything. Even if it made his life at stake.

*****

Mark was in the middle of putting his jewelry on the display when Jungwoo, the man who had been the boy's bane in the last several days, unexpectedly burst into the store. At the sight of him, the Canadian hesitantly retreated deeper into the store, but Kim walked toward him, smiling sadistically.

"You thought I was a fool? Tell me everything you know! " Jungwoo grabbed the boy by the shirt and pinned him to the wall.

"What are you talking about, man !?" Mark tried to break free, but the man was much stronger than him.

“Oh Mark, Mark, Mark. Do you know what the police do with people like you? With junkies being here illegally trading shit right and left? Would you like to see how nice fagots like you are treated in our prisons?" Jungwoo laughed hysterically, and Mark was drenched in a cold sweat with terror.

"I .." The boy stuttered and looked down.

"Go ahead, tell me where he is." Jungwoo released his grip and Mark stammered about Yuta's position. Satisfied, the man got into the car, reaching for a baseball bat from the back seat.

"Gotcha!" Jungwoo laughed to himself and drove away with a screech of tires, leaving the intimidated dealer on the floor of his shop.

Yuta stayed home alone as every day, because Taeyong, at Taeil's request, went to the police station to close all the matters he was dealing with. Keeping in mind Yuta's remark about the two murderers, his search narrowed considerably, leaving him with only a few people to check.

Yuta decided to pack the policeman's luggage because he offered to do it for him since there was no job for him anyway. So after hearing a doorbell he naively went to open the door being sure that the only people who know he was here were Johnny and Mark. The boy was even happy to hear it because he was getting bored and the company would be a good springboard from waiting for the policeman.

What he didn't expect was a strong hit with a baseball bat on the head, right after he opened the door. The Japanese staggered as the pain clouded his senses and he almost fell into the glass-case, but at the last moment, he grabbed the wall. Before the spots disappeared from his sight, Yuta was forced to avoid the blow once again, this time aimed at his abdomen.

"J-Jungwoo! What are you doing!?" The younger one cried out, dragging himself through the living room with difficulty as the blood streaming down his eye made it difficult for him to see properly.

But he was answered by the silence and the hateful gaze of his opponent. The Japanese swallowed with horror, seeing in Jungwoo's eyes that he wasn't joking and that he really wanted to kill him. The boy gathered himself up and ran to the bedroom, but the other one jumped at him, leaving the baseball bat in the living room in favor of a more handy knife. Waving him from side to side, Yuta prayed that he would avoid the stab that would further reduce his chances of survival.

Unfortunately, the boy tripped over the corner of the rug and landed face down in front of the bedroom door itself. Jungwoo didn't waste a minute and quickly attacked him, crushing the smaller one to the ground. The Korean jerked Yuta by the hair, putting a knife to his throat when he unexpectedly fell right next to him, and the sound of a stick hit in the boy's ears. Yuta, paralyzed with fear, was brought to his feet by none other than Mark.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault. If I hadn't chickened out, nothing would have happened." The Canadian began nodding in panic as he saw Jungwoo slowly returning to his senses.

"You betrayed me!? How the fuck could you!?" Yuta screamed, possessed by rage, but immediately fell silent as he noticed Jungwoo rising from the floor. In the last second, Mark stood right in front of him, taking the stab of the knife as Jungwoo had jab his eyelid.

"Get out of here! Fuck off as far as you can!" Mark cried out in pain. Ignoring the blood streaming down his face, he grabbed the Japanese by the sleeves of his sweatshirt and yanked him towards the exit door.

Without thinking any more, Yuta started to run as fast as he could, stumbling from time to time on the stairs or bumping into passers-by. There was only one place left for him to shelter. It was a long way from Taeyong's apartment, but the fear and adrenaline circulating through his body allowed him to reach this place in one piece.

With the last of his strength, Yuta ran into Johnny's yard, where the said man was playing golf. One look at the younger made him know something terrible had happened. So when the younger one threw himself into his arms, sobbing, Johnny embraced him with all his strength. Right behind him, a panting Taeyong appeared at the gate, who, not understanding the situation, was cheering in honor of the captured murderer. Only noticing the crying Yuta, who was barely standing on his feet, made the policeman motionless. Johnny immediately felt that all he had to face today was trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long to update, but life is giving me a really hard time now and some days I have problems getting through it. It's terrible you know? But I'm trying to not give up, so I hope that if you feel similar please know that you are not alone. We will make it in our own way, but we will. Take care guys and stay healthy! 💚


	7. Wreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> See you in hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've finally reached the end, the final chapter! I know it took a long time to add it, but I hope you won't be disappointed! 
> 
> The chapter includes arson, suicide, homicide, and violence. If you feel sensitive to certain topics, you'd better avoid half a chapter. I will mention right away that I love Jungwoo and Taeil so don't badmouth me, it's just fiction.

*****

Johnny glanced at his watch, which proved he had been sitting in the car for fifteen minutes in front of the police station. Holding the file Taeyong had given him before leaving in his trembling hands, the poker-faced man has been looking at the same photo since he turned off the engine.

The photo showed a middle-aged woman. She had dark hair with a few gray strands in a stiff bun. Her face was long with high cheekbones. The dark brown eyes stared intently at the lens of the camera that took the picture. Despite her full and prominent lips, her age was revealed by a series of wrinkles around her eyes and on her forehead. If Johnny had been right, she should be about forty now, and the memories she existed in wouldn't let him forget her even for a moment.

Eventually, the man took a deep breath and got out of the car. He adjusted the crooked tie once more and scanned his side mirror for the slightest sign of imperfection. When he found none, Johnny smiled broadly and, clutching the file in his hand, stepped inside.

As expected, there was no living soul at the police station, except for one person who might have been there so late. Taeil sat hunched behind his cluttered desk with a small lamp on. The man didn't seem to notice the new incomer at first, as he was absorbed in intense thought. It was only when Johnny took his seat in the plastic chair in front of him that Taeil turned and frowned at once at the familiar face in front of him.

"Why are you here?" The policeman asked hostile, but his voice was uncertain.

“You know what for. Give me the key and we'll get along without arguing." Johnny took a deep breath, settling back in the chair more comfortably.

"I don't have the power to give it to you." Moon licked his lips nervously as a bead of sweat trickled down his temple.

"You didn't have the honor and courage so you let her die because of your fucking pride and the fact that she always preferred me over you." Johnny raised his voice but calmed down so as not to arouse suspicions on the security cameras.

"You know that I fucking regret it." Taeil's voice trembled, but Johnny silenced him with a stern glare.

"Give me the key and get the fuck out of here unless you want to accompany this bitch to hell." Suh expressed himself firmly, and despite his reluctance, the policeman finally handed him the keys to one of the three cells at the police station. Immediately after that, the man got up and slammed the door, and left the building, first making sure that recording on all cameras was turned off.

Johnny wasted no time making his way to the back of the building, where the suspects were being held in small temporary cells before their official arrest. Of the three available, only one was occupied by the person the man had been wanting to get for a long time. When their eyes met, Johnny, seeing as the murderer still had the nerve to smile, boiled with anger but tried hard to hide it. The woman approached him, sat down on a wooden bench, and waited curiously for the stranger's move.

"You probably don't remember me, but I have kept you perfectly in my mind." Johnny started a conversation, and the suspect just nodded.

"Are you one of my would-be victims?" The woman sneered with a nasty laugh.

"Busan, three years ago, the dockyard. You cut the throat of one of my coworkers." The man tried to make his words sound unemotional.

"Ah, it's you! I didn't recognize you! You had long blonde hair then. You've become handsome." The woman began to cackle like an old mare, and Suh had a hard time trying not to hit her.

"They say you died then." Johnny moved closer to the steel bars.

“I see you didn't believe it. I have to admit it cost me a bit to fall from such a great height, but luckily I was fine, so don't worry anymore, honey." The arrogant chatter caused Johnny to fail and he yanked the woman by the hair, making her hiss in pain.

"Why did you do that? That girl had absolutely no idea about the case, so why did you take her hostage and not me?" Johnny growled, releasing the greasy locks of hair.

"For fun, of course." The murderer chuckled again, unrepentantly.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Johnny couldn't believe her indifference and insolence.

“I saw how you and that little shrimp were looking at her. I knew taking her would destroy your cooperation, and I was right. Even after my boys played with her, she didn't say a word, and only seeing you in the shipyard I realized that I chose the wrong victim. Well, at least I could test my new ideas for torture on her." The woman began to laugh horribly as if possessed by some satanic powers.

Johnny, unable to listen to her heartlessly mentioning the atrocities she had committed, decided it was about time to finish what he had dreamed of since the love of his life had been killed in front of his eyes. On that cruel day, when Taeil stood idle next to him, not reacting to Liu Wei slicing the throat of a girl they both loved, Johnny knew he wouldn't rest until he caught that psychopath and got his revenge.

Now, at last, there was an opportunity for it, and without delay, Johnny disappeared in the corridor for a moment to return with a canister half full of gasoline. He quickly spilled it all over the cage, also reaching the clothes of Liu Wei who for the first time looked at him with terror in her eyes.

"You are crazy. You can not do that." The woman paled and her eyes scanned the room, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to escape anywhere.

"See you in hell, bitch." Stoically, Johnny struck a match and nonchalantly threw it into the cell, right into a puddle of gasoline that caught fire immediately.

As Johnny left the cell with a smile on his face, he listened to the cries of pain and agony that were coming from inside the building. When he was finally outside, he ran into Taeil, who was speechless with shock, guessing what his former partner of missions had done.

"Clean up after me. You owe it to Ann." Johnny said as he handed the keys back to Taeil and then drove off as if nothing had happened.

******

Lucas, having irrefutable evidence of the terrible things that Jungwoo had done, waited with a heavy heart in their shared villa. When the man entered the house smiling from ear to ear, Wong felt like vomiting, feeling the growing anger because he was lied to for so long by this smile.

Jungwoo entered their bedroom as if nothing had happened and was a little surprised to find Lucas there, who was sitting silently and looking at him with hostility. He tried to approach him and greet him affectionately, but the other pushed him roughly.

"How can you still touch me after all of this?" Lucas sobbed but quickly wiped his tears away. "You are a murderer. You are behind these prostitutes' deaths. You almost killed my friend!" Wong looked into the other man's eyes, but Jungwoo showed no reaction.

“I was just trying to take care of our relationship. He was disturbing us." Jungwoo was indignant because he was not impressed by being accused of murder.

"How can you say that!? How could you come to me after you took the lives of innocent people!?” Yukhei screamed because he was starting to worry about Jungwoo's psyche, who was behaving too normal to the situation.

“They were just stains on our society. What's the difference if I got rid of a few of them or not? I can stop doing this if you are angry about it." Kim sat up on the bed, running a hand through his hair.

“Can you hear yourself? It's over with us. I'm not going to share my life with a murderer. I don't want to know you, so get out of my house!" Lucas tugged at his ex-partner's clothes to throw him out the door.

"Oh come on, Yukhei." Kim struggled with him, trying to stop the younger one.

"Get out before I call the police!" Wong shouted.

"You won't do it!" Jungwoo froze in place for a moment.

"It just so happens that I already did." With the last of his strength, Lucas smiled at him and suddenly the noise of police sirens sounded. In a panic, Kim ran out of the house, leaving the terrified and heartbroken Chinese inside, not realizing that they won't meet again.

*******

Johnny returned to his mansion early the next day. There was a cool wind and the sky was overcast, so the man felt that nothing good would happen to him today. As he entered, he was greeted by the silence. In a spacious living room, Taeyong sat on one of the black leather sofas, silently holding Yuta by the hand, who seemed to be on the phone. Suh stripped off his coat and joined them, silently watching the situation.

"Please Lucas, you can't do this. You had no idea about anything, you were manipulated by your feelings. You did nothing bad." In a pleading tone, the Japanese tried to speak to the other's sense.

"I can't. I won't be able to live in peace thinking that I loved a murderer. I don't deserve it." A loud sob came out of the phone, and Johnny was slowly guessing the worst.

“Please don't do this to me. Don't leave me." Bitter tears started to run down Yuta's face, blurring his eyes for a moment.

Seconds later, the men in the living room heard the chair fall and the squeak of pulled cloth. Lucas's voice faded with them, and they all realized they had lost one precious and innocent life.

Yuta, as if not believing that his only friend in this vile and cruel world had just taken his own life, started screaming into the receiver, thinking that maybe it would wake Lucas from his last sleep. Seeing that his actions had no effect, the boy fell to his knees and began to sob loudly. Taeyong was immediately at his side, hugging him to himself, but it only increased the pain of the boy who was shaking with despair and regret. Johnny, seeing this heartbreaking moment, bowed his head to say the last goodbye to Lucas.

Several minutes passed before the Japanese calmed down, or rather finally fell asleep from exhaustion. Taeyong silently carried him to the bedroom that his friend had given them the day before. Making sure the younger boy was covered with a warm duvet and leaving water with tranquilizers on his nightstand, Lee returned to the living room to meet Johnny drinking whiskey.

"How was the meeting with Liu Wei?" Lee asked as he accepted the drink his friend offered him.

“Perfect. She burned down like a sausage on a grill." Johnny laughed, but Taeyong had known him long enough to know that this meeting had left an imprint deep within his soul, but respecting his companion, the man chose not to rummage through his mind.

"What about Moon Taeil?" The policeman asked, taking a sip of delicious alcohol.

"He will stay here and until the end of his life, he will do what he does the best, which is cleaning up after others." Johnny looked into the space in front of him as if it hid all the answers he was looking for.

"You'll never forgive him, John?" Taeyong leaned against the countertop, setting the empty glass down.

"Not in this lifetime." The taller man replied firmly, cutting off the conversation. "Shouldn't you go? As you continue to hang around asking unnecessary questions, Jungwoo will have time to run away." He put down his glass as well and turned to the sink to rinse it.

"That's not gonna happen. This rat has long since fallen into my trap, but if you don't want me here anymore, then I'm going. Take care of Yuta for me, and if you can of Lucas' corpse too. Yuta will probably want to bury him." Taeyong threw his leather jacket over his back and checked if the gun in his holster was loaded.

"Sure, see ya." Johnny said and immediately after he heard the door close.

Taeyong parked his car in the back of an old, small mansion on the outskirts. It was surrounded by thickets that hadn't been trimmed for a long time. The doors and windows were boarded up and there were piles of rubbish and broken furniture in the driveway. The place seemed deserted, it perfectly met all the criteria, so as not to arouse the interest of other people. The policeman wasn't surprised why, of all the places, Jungwoo and Liu Wei chose this very thing to fulfill their sick fantasies.

He stepped in through the back door that was always open. It wasn't his first visit here. In the course of the investigation, the man got to know this gloomy place well. The villa consisted of two floors, on the ground floor there was a small, cluttered living room and a long-unused kitchen, and a creaking staircase led to the second floor where there was only one room - a bedroom that served as the place of death for all of the victims.

It didn't take long for the policeman to understand how the psychopath worked. After visiting all the crime scenes, the man noticed that each of them was less than two kilometers from the mansion. Through elimination, Taeyong checked all his suspicious places, until one night he ended up right here, in a mansion hidden at the end of the road, inhabited by no one.

Taeyong didn't find anything suspicious during his first visit, but when he made his way here after the third murder, his attention was drawn to a leather belt left under pillows in an upstairs bedroom. Taeyong realized that the perpetrator must have been in a hurry because he allowed himself to do such a neglection. Having the opportunity he took prints from the belt and after a week he was sure that the last victim's blood found on it would lead him to the murderer.

So when he visited Mark and the boy told him about the mysterious man who was coming to his shop, Taeyong put the points together and after description, he quickly found out who was the first murderer. Soon after, he found another one, when Yuta practically pointed him between whom to look for. There was only one woman on his list of suspects, and she matched the characteristics perfectly. She was pursued by an international arrest warrant for numerous murders and assaults, and it made it easier for Taeyong to find her. It only took the right people in the search.

Taeyong quietly entered the second floor and, since he was rarely wrong, found Jungwoo in the bedroom, whom he expected to meet here. The boy didn't look surprised. He was dressed in a loose-fitting shirt, dark jacket, and denim pants with a dark belt, the same one with which he strangled his victims after Liu Wei had finished 'playing' with them.

“The simplicity of your choices was easy to guess. For a serial killer, you haven't been very inventive." Taeyong scoffed because he knew hitting a man's ego would be a good way to get the truth out of him.

"And it still took you a while to get me, cop." Jungwoo sat more comfortably in the armchair that stood under the curtained window at the other end of the room.

“Honestly, I could have done it sooner, but I didn't care that much about you. By the way, you have greetings from Mrs. Wei. Soon you'll meet her in hell." The policeman closed the door behind him, slowly narrowing the distance between his opponent.

"So you came to kill me." Jungwoo laughed derisively.

"I wouldn't really give a fuck about it and I'd just send Taeil and his gang on you, but you pissed me off by hurting the most important person to me, so you will die here like a dirty rat and no one will ever know about it." Taeyong drew his gun from its holster and aimed it at the other man's temple.

"You wish." Jungwoo jerked violently towards the policeman and Taeyong felt a strong pain in his lower abdomen.

Feeling the blade cut through his skin, Taeyong swayed on his feet, cursing that he got carried away and lost his alertness. Grasping the stomach he had been stabbed into, he saw Jungwoo leave the room. Not wanting to let him get away with it, the policeman, despite the pain, tightened his hand on the gun and run down the stairs to catch up with the fleeing murderer.

Seeing a large amount of blood on his hand, Taeyong knew he had little time if he wanted to get out of it alive. So when he burst into the living room, he fired without aiming at Jungwoo, who was just grabbing the door handle to get outside. This slowed his escape as the bullet grazed his shoulder and the man staggered, practically falling out through the ajar door.

Lee quickly followed him, his hand tightening over the wound to make it bleed less. Noticing how Jungwoo was trying to get to the car with which he had arrived, the man reached for a metal pipe that was lying on the ground and hit the back of Kim's head. This time, Jungwoo fell to the ground and blood appeared on his head.

Taeyong was starting to get dizzy, and to his surprise, Jungwoo began to crawl to the exit gate and managed to get to his feet halfway through. Lee cursed his impulsiveness one more time as the wound was taking its toll on him and he began to stagger, feeling that he was losing strength.

Suddenly, he noticed an intense light coming from the entrance to the property and a loud impact followed by sudden braking. Five men got out of the car and two of them ran to help him up. Holding the policeman under his arms, the men took him to the car, where his supervisor was waiting for him.

"Is he alive?" Commissioner Moon asked one of his comrades.

"He's dead, boss." The subordinate announced.

"Take care of the corpse. I'll meet you at the police station." Taeil gave the orders and started toward the hospital.

"How did you know I would be here?" Taeyong asked, settling in the seats to feel as little pain as possible.

"Johnny called me." The commissioner replied.

"I thought so." Lee groaned woefully as the car jumped in the hole and despite his efforts, his eyes finally closed and the policeman passed out after a while.

********

Taeyong woke up in an unfamiliar place and immediately felt his stomach turn upside down as the bed he was lying on began to rock. The man sat up, leaning against the cool wall, and noticed that he was hooked up to the drip. His free hand was held in an embrace by none other than his beloved.

Yuta was pale as a wall and he stared silently at the small picture hanging above the bedside table. His cheeks were sunken again, his lips were dry, and his oversized sweater barely masked his protruding bones. Taeyong's heart broke at the silent suffering of his lover. When their eyes met, the boy only sighed deeply and found the strength to speak with difficulty.

"We're on the ship and we're due to arrive in Korea tomorrow evening." Said the younger one.

"How did I get here?" Taeyong asked, gently stroking the younger man's knuckles with his bandaged hand.

“You were unconscious for three days and the doctors were beginning to doubt if you would get better. You've lost more blood than it looked like. Then Johnny said we had no more time and he arranged a transfer to the ship for you." The Japanese replied, but there was a hint of bitterness in his tone.

"You were probably worried." Taeyong tried to touch the younger's face, but he moved away.

“My only friend committed suicide, and my beloved thoughtlessly went alone to deal with the murderer who almost killed him. What do you think I can feel now?" Yuta laughed mockingly and tears started to run down his face, caused by the frustration and pain he was feeling.

"I'm sorry." Taeyong felt ashamed for his behavior, but this time the younger one didn't push him away as the policeman hugged him.

“Promise me you won't do it again. I don't know if I can bury one more important person to me." Yuta sobbed in the arms of his beloved.

"I promise, it was the last time." Lee kissed him on the temple and let the younger one cry and scream out all the anger and fear he had bravely hid inside him so far.

Johnny visited them in the evening with a clear relief on his face. Seeing his friend slowly regain his strength, he finally took a deep breath, and for the first time in several days, he slept peacefully through the night. They arrived in Korea as planned the next day, and on the orders of their gang boss, the men agreed to meet him in three days, when Taeyong's condition would be good enough for the policeman to be able to walk on his own.

Yuta chose to accompany him, even though Johnny didn't seem to be happy about it. Yuta harshly made it clear that he won't intend to let Taeyong act on his own anymore. When they got there, the policeman grabbed the Japanese man's hand and, holding him close, entered the gate surrounded by bodyguards into the room where Jung Jaehyun usually gave orders.

The main hall had yellow walls and the furniture was made of ebony wood. In the center of the room stood a long table around which were placed two white leather sofas. At its end, on a platform, there was an armchair that only Jung Jaehyun was allowed to sit on. It was upholstered in black leather and decorated with golden ornaments. The whole room was dripping with wealth and its culmination was a huge crystal chandelier in the middle.

The gang boss was sitting in his perfect black suit with a sour face that showed his displeasure. Taeyong guessed that he wasn't pleased with Yuta, whom he had taken with him without warning. There were bodyguards against the walls and other gang members closely watching the situation.

Jung didn't say a word to them. He just waved his hand towards Johnny, who immediately obeyed and stood to his left. Taeyong and Yuta were left alone in the center, but that changed too when one of the bodyguards grabbed the Japanese and, despite the policeman's resistance, took him aside, leaving the confused Korean in the middle of the room.

"Do you deign to tell us who gave you permission to bring someone else with you?" Jaehyuna asked, lighting the cigar that Johnny handed him.

"I ... I'm sorry, I have nothing to excuse myself." Taeyong bowed his head in remorse.

“So this is the kid you tattooed without my permission. From what I can remember, I sent you to the Triad for another purpose, not to fool around with some random boy." Jung took a drag on the tobacco, and the policeman was speechless, surprised that his boss knew about it.

"How ..." Lee didn't finish because Jaehyun interrupted him.

“Moon Taeil has assigned you a task so you'd had a cover for obtaining information for me. You were supposed to stay out of the way but it got to the point where we now have an ex-whore in the gang, two dead people and we don't have any of our men in Triad!" Jung screamed, but no one in the room looked down for a moment.

“You knew about everything. From the very beginning." Lee hesitated, but that was the only thought circulating in his mind now.

"Of course I did." Jaehyun said nonchalantly.

"How? Who? From who?" Taeyong was stunned, not believing what he was hearing.

“Johnny wasn't assigned to you to only support you. Stop pretending to be surprised Tae, you know the saying. Trust, but verify. It worked for you." Jung smiled arrogantly, but quickly returned to the glare.

"I've never betrayed you! Neither did I fail! I was your cannon fodder. I could lose my life at any moment, risking them figuring out that I was spying. And you lied to me!" Taeyong fell silent when he felt a sharp burning on his cheek after Jaehyun hit him.

"Watch your tone, Lee! You haven't been honest with me either. You incorporated this kid into our gang without my permission. You broke our rules!" Jaehyun screamed, causing the people gathered in the room to freeze in place.

"I didn't...!! He's just ...” Taeyong lowered his head pitifully, unable to find any excuse for his actions.

"Your toy? The whore you tricked to have someone to fuck? Just a dirty slut… ”Jung didn't finish the sentence as an angry policeman lunged at him. His intentions were murderous, his pupils dilated with anger, and the fingers on the gangster's neck clenched with enormous force.

"Don't you fucking talk about him like that." Taeyong growled in his boss's ear and only pulled away when someone kicked him hard in the spine.

"Taeyong!" Yuta screamed in terror, hot tears running down his face. Never before he felt so helpless as when he had to watch a group of men kick and punch his beloved.

"You're in love, you fool." Jung spat blood on the floor and stepped his shoe on Taeyong's hand, tearing a cry of the pain out of his mouth.

"Please! Don't hurt him! Take me!" Yuta screamed, but the bodyguard overpowered him with a blow to his abdomen and the boy fell silent.

"How lovely. One can give his life for the other." Jaehyun stepped on the policeman's hand once more and only when he heard a crunch in his fingers did he walk away.

"Boss ..." Johnny's voice quivered, but he was immediately silenced by the raised hand.

"Shut up Youngho and pick him up." Jung brushed the dust off his sleeves and sat on his leather armchair with an unreadable gaze, staring at the couple who were now kneeling in front of him. “You did a really good job, Lee. I would have named you my deputy if you hadn't screwed up what you did. Unfortunately, it is too late now." Jaehyun sneered as he brought the knife to Taeyong's larynx and pressed it hard enough that drops of blood began to flow down the policeman's throat.

"Will you die for your resolutions? Are you ready for me to stab the knife in your throat? Or maybe you will come to your senses and leave this jerk behind you, and I will forget about everything?" Jung looked expectantly into the eyes of the other man.

"I'd rather die." Taeyong smiled confidently, grasping Yuta's shaking hand.

"As you wish." Jung grinned. "Youngho, come over and finish the job!" Yuta closed his eyes, afraid of what would happen next, but suddenly he felt someone lifting him by armpits.

"What the?" The Japanese yelled, noting that he and Taeyong were now standing side by side, and Jaehyun was hiding his precious knife in the sheath.

"You can go away." Jung said, adjusting his jacket to get up from his seat. “I don't tolerate resistance. From any side. Even from my best and most trusted people. Anyone who breaks the rules will be punished. You too, Lee." Jaehyun gestured with his hand and Johnny handed to the policeman a small black envelope.

"What is this?" Lee asked, instinctively drawing Yuta closer to himself.

“Ticket to Spain. You broke the most important rule. No one will be put into the gang without my consent. I would have killed you for it without hesitation, but you saved my life once. But you can't still be one of us, you have to leave. Johnny has everything ready for you in Seville. You and Yuta are free. Jaehyun turned after the speech was finished and wanted to leave, but Taeyong fell at his feet and started to sob.

"Thank you!" The policeman cried, but the gangster only took a deep breath before bending down and whispering.

"We're even. Now stop blubbering and go to start a new life. It's about time, Lee." After these words, Jung left the room with his subordinates. Only the two lovers remained in the room, sobbing in their arms, and Johnny, who, with his head bowed, was standing silent near them.

*********

Two days later, Johnny joined the two men on the beach to finally say goodbye to Lucas. Yuta held in his skinny arms a small urn containing his friend's ashes, which he was going to scatter here. Lucas once told him that in the event of his death he would like to be scattered above the sea and Yuta, before leaving Asia, wanted to comply with his last wish.

Yuta poured out the ashes with trembling hands, which immediately rose under the influence of a strong gust of wind. The boy had the impression that someone had specially lifted Lucas's soul to take him home. Although he tried to control his nerves, Yuta shed bitter tears, regretting that he had to say goodbye to the only friend he had met on his hard journey so quickly.

Taeyong hugged and calmed him all this time, eventually leading the crying boy to the car. He had one more thing to do, so when he closed the door behind Yuta, he walked along the dune where Johnny was waiting for him.

"Tae I ... I really want to apologize to you for ..." Johnny didn't finish his thoughts as Taeyong put a hand on his shoulder, signaling him to stop talking.

"It's fine. I know you were just following orders. Yuta also doesn't hold a grudge against you." Lee gave him a reassuring smile.

They were silent for a moment, staring out to sea until Taeyong spoke again.

"How is Mark?" He asked.

"His condition is now stable, but it will take a long time to regain his sight if it ever does." Johnny pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket and lit one, offering Taeyong, who gladly accepted it.

“I will send you money for his treatment. Let me know now and then if there is any progress." Taeyong took a drag on his cigarette, then released a puff of smoke.

"It's your request?" Johnny raised an eyebrow, slightly disbelieving his friend.

"Yuta's. But he's not ready to talk about it yet, so please feel free to only contact me." Lee smiled awkwardly.

After they had finished smoking, they got to their feet and walked slowly back to the car. Yuta fell asleep tired from crying inside, and Taeyong smiled fondly seeing him shrunken in the front seat.

"You're leaving today." Johnny said, and Lee nodded. "Send me a postcard when you get there." Suh joked and Taeyong lightly tapped him on the back.

"See you again, Johnny. Take care of yourself and don't get killed." Lee looked at his friend with a gratitude Johnny understood immediately.

"You too. Be finally happy." Suh patted his friend on the back and with a smile on his face said goodbye to the couple who had gone to the airport so that they could finally start a new, peaceful life.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone who made it to the end of this story! Thank you for waiting patiently for the next chapters that came out rarely and over time. I hope you had a lot of fun and enjoyed it ❤ Thank you so much for the love each previous chapter has received! If you want to, feel free to comment, I really love reading your thoughts. Thank you once again for every heart and positive word. See you in future works!
> 
> Habanero


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